What I have learnt from Neil MacGregor about Germany

• ·         Bauhaus still exists though some might call it IKEA.
• ·         Durer’s famous prints of the Knight and Melancholia are thought to sum up the German character.  His Rhinoceros, draw from a description taken from a Portuguese Sailor, is his signature work.
• ·         Gutenberg’s success, like so many revolutions, was based on serendipity.  People rich enough to buy, a epidemic desire to read the bible, technologies coming together including expertly crafted adaptations of wine presses into printing presses, and the superb craftsmanship needed to create metal lettering.  Also Meissen had Italian paper fairs twice a year, and was located in a healthy trade corridor.
• ·         The German flag, Black, Red and Gold, dates from 1845, at a time when Germany could have been unified.  “Deutschland uber alles” actually means the state of German over all these dukedoms and principalities, not the whole world!  East and West German vied for the right to use the flag because it was also associated with Karl Marx and the communist manifesto in 1845.  East German gave in and included it’s communist logo to differentiate itself from the West.
• ·         Rich Women handed in their jewels to help fund the war of liberation from Napoleon.  In exchange they were given Iron jewellery, lined with nationalist slogans. 
• ·         The Steel Yard in the City of London belonged to the Hanseatic League.  This merchant fraternity eventually gave its name to the German national airline, Lufthansa.
• ·         Riemenschneider wood carvings were not intended to be painted, unlike most wood caring of the time.  Hence Riemenschneider used his skill to show the emotion of the person though texture alone.
• ·         The French and German’s claim Charlemagne as a founding father.
• ·         Wallhana, on the Rheine in Bavaria unites the German speaking people.  German, a nation, like other nations with week physical borders, has moved around.  The only thing left in Konigsberg, the royal home of the Prussian kings, are the sewer man hole covers.  The Russians removed everything else even though it was the home of Kant.
• ·         Goethe was dissolute until he read Shakespeare.  Here he saw the hope of freedom from classical constraints he desired.  He is now recognised by most Germans on the street. (His picture that is.)
• ·         Luther survived many sentences of death because of the divided German statelet system.  His presence in Saxony was a snub to neighbouring states.  A bit like Leicester and Leicestershire, “we’ll do whatever they and not doing, and visa versa.”
• ·         Luther’s German became a marker for the nations, in a similar way Chaucer’s English was in England.
• ·         Charlemagne’s true crown (actually it Otto's) is in Vienna.  We saw a replica in Aachen.  The Austrians also see him as their founding father and appropriated the crown to prevent it from being taken by Napoleon.