Hochwasser

It has been a worry time for many parts of Germany during this past couple of weeks.  The news reports here and around the world have been full of the flooding in central Europe.  Some people have lost their lives and the cost to rectify the damage is expected to be in the billions of euros.

This image bring home just what it is like when rivers overflow their banks and make everyone's life a misery:

 http://meissenerregionwirbt.de/wp-content/uploads/Anker.jpg

Here is an aerial view of Dresden.  The old town is in the upper part of the photo.  There should be a quay running alongside the river but this is all under water.  The boats are anchored where the edge would normally be.  if it get smuch higher it will flood the city:

http://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/gallery.hochwasser-aktuell-dresden-halle-deggendorf-jahrhundert-flut-so-schlimm-ist-die-lage-param~140~139~0~149~false.f29ba1fe-f2f1-457a-adee-162c8cb13de0.html

They say that it some areas the flooding is as high as it has been in the last 500 years.  Meissen, Halle, Magdeburg, Dresden: many town are feeling the effects of these floodwaters.  This photograph shows a motor way down near Munich:

 http://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/gallery.hochwasser-aktuell-dresden-halle-deggendorf-jahrhundert-flut-so-schlimm-ist-die-lage-param~100~99~0~149~false.f29ba1fe-f2f1-457a-adee-162c8cb13de0.html

There has been flooding in other countries too: Hungary and the Czech Republic.  Here is a more dramatic photograph of what flooding can do:

 http://www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de/gallery.hochwasser-aktuell-dresden-halle-deggendorf-jahrhundert-flut-so-schlimm-ist-die-lage-param~65~64~0~149~false.f29ba1fe-f2f1-457a-adee-162c8cb13de0.html

All that water eventually disperses, following natural water courses until it reaches the sea.  The main rivers in this area are the Elbe and the Danube.  For Kaiserswerth this is good news because of course we are on the Rhine.

However. . .

Melting snow in the Alps (where the Rhine is born); heavy rains in southern Germany (through which the Rhine runs), and some run off from the flooded areas, has meant that the Rhine too has risen.  This is view outside the old village walls, which you can just see on the right of this photo.  The trees grown on a little beach area by the river :



The Flood water (hochwasser) signs are out to prevent us taking the river path to nearby Wittlaer. . .


. . . And everyone wanders down to the river to see if it is getting 'too' high for our liking.  There is talk that the town flood barriers were to be prepared!


We often gauge the river's height by the angle of the gangway down to the pontoon for the Dusseldorf ferry.  It should run at roughly a 30 to 35 degree angle.  As you can see, that is not the case at the moment:


You should be able to walk to the marker, and on the far side of the river you can see that the ferry is staying where it is.  The river is too fast for it to make the journey to our side.


Mind you, it isn't as bad as it could be.  In 1926 the river rose 11 metres and Kaiserswerth was completely flooded.  The only way to move around was by boat:

This is the highest official recorded level of flooding in Kaiserswerth and you find markers all over the place showing how high the water reached once it entered the village; but in 1795 we are told it rose to 11.5 metres.
In 1993 and 1995 the river rose to at least 10 metres.
Thankfully in our time here I have not witnessed flooding to that extent, but we do get a rise in the water table when the Rhine is high.  This week we have had the old river bed near our apartment suddenly begin to fill with water:

The ducks love it of course and we have seen duckling floating about in the fields.  But it is not good for the horses and I read that coming at this time, the flooding has been particularly bad for the wild animals, with many nesting birds losing their eggs and young, and many baby animals drowning.
Here is another view of our rising water level.  This is the pathway that wends it way around the bushes  in the part of the old river bed below our apartment:

The fields are sodden and the grass (which the farm horses and cows would normally be frolicking in) is ruined:

Thankfully we are protected by our tree lined dykes.  The main dyke runs from Kaiserswerth, all the way into Dusseldorf; providing a stout barricade as well as a nice car-free path for walkers, joggers, and bike riders.  A smaller series of dykes protects our village.  Trees were planted on top to stabilize it.  Our own bijou apartment building sits atop the dyke too!

We feel that we are quite safe from any potential water threat.

Today when I checked the river I felt certain that it is receding...

The Horseman, St. Otto, and the Heavenly Garden.

This is my last post on our motoring holiday into Germany otherwise you will be thinking: "Not more holiday photos!!!  When will it all end!?"
So,
When we visited Bamberg, two sites made a huge impression upon us.  I would like to share them with you.  The first one is Bamberg Cathedral.

Bamberg Cathedral celebrates its 1,000 anniversary this year.  It is a big old church with (I think) copper roofing on its four towers that has gone green with age.

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

The outside of this building is adorned with architectural treasures that are a joy to behold:
This is one of the side portals to the Cathedral.  The scene above the doorway shows the Final Judgement.  Sinners on Our Lord's left and saved on His right:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

 Here is a close-up.  I like the fact that one finds all sorts among both sinners and saved.  The sinners grimace in terror as a devil hauls them off, while the saved smile beatifically:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

Here are the sculptures above the main portal.  Our Lady and the Infant Jesus are with St Peter and St George:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

Another portal shows the various Saints associated with the Cathedral:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

St Stephen the Martyr, St. Kunigunde and St. Henry are on the left, while St Andrew and Adam and Eve are on the left.  These are not the original medieval statuary.  They are to be found within the Diocesan museum, having aged somewhat badly, however these are exact replicas.  Here is a detail of St. Kunigunde and St. Henry:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

And here are Adam and Eve with the appropriate leaves.  You will see that the replicas lack arms hands and other parts.  This is the condition of the medieval originals and the replicas are modelled similarly:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

Once inside the Cathedral there are more treasures to behold.

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

This is a late Medieval statue of Our Lady and the Infant Jesus:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

And here is the famous thirteenth century sculpture: The Bamberg Horseman:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

Some people think that it represents St Stephen of Hungary, others say it is the Emperor St. Henry while still others say it is a chap called Conrad.  No one really knows for certain and it all just guess work really.
Putting that to one side though, it looks as if the statue were carved recently rather than nearly eight hundred years ago, but I guess this is due to the fact that it is inside, high up, and out of the elements.

Here is the tomb of the royal Saints: the Emperor Henry II and the Empress Kunigunde; founders of the Cathedral.  The tomb was carved in the 1500s by the famous sculptor, Tilman Reimenshneider.  I have seen another work of his: a huge altar piece in the church at Rothenburg ob der Taube.  In the crypt one can see the skulls of the two Saints however as these are Holy Relics I did not take a photograph.

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

And here, on the side of the tomb is carved the Empress Kunigunde walking barefoot across red hot plough shares before the Emperor, to prove her innocence when accused by the cathedral workmen (who didn't like the way she was bossing them about when it came to finishing the Cathedral buildings) of being unfaithful to the Emperor in his absence:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

 Here is a prosperous Prince Bishop of Bamberg giving his blessing:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

Here, just behind the current Archbishop of Bamberg's throne, is the tomb of Pope Clement II, the only Pope buried in Germany.  This is a restricted and sacred area, being the High Altar, and as such off limits to wandering tourists, so I have taken a photograph using the zoom lens:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

And finally here is a statue of poor old Saint Denis, bishop of Paris, who had his head cut off during a Christian persecution in about 250.  A popular saint in medieval times:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

I really liked this cathedral.  It has gone through a lot not the least being the 'modernization' undertaken by an interfering 19th Century King of Bavaria (when much medieval painting was lost forever) and yet it retains a sense of dignity and gentleness that I found palpable.

The second place I would like to show you is the Michaelsberg Abbey:

Here it is bathed in autumnal sunlight.  It sits on its own hill and until secularization in 1802 was a prosperous monastery.

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

There are two treasures within this building:

The first is behind the High Altar which in itself is a thing of beauty:

This somewhat blurred Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

If you walk around the altar you come across a small room in which you find the tomb of St Otto of Bamberg.  St Otto (known as Otto the Good) died in the year 1139 and was later recognised as a saint.  Here is his tomb:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

St Otto is a Saint who looks after you if you have back ache (a problem that both AGA and I were suffering from, thanks to long hours of sightseeing).

If you crawl through the hole in the tomb, making a true and pious request, St Otto will cure you of back ache.  Well it isn't very scientific I know but AGA and I are Catholics and so we 'did' it.  There are no photographs as the process is somewhat ungainly, however we took it in turns to crawl through the hole and, I kid you not, our backs did not ache for the rest of the trip!

So thank you St Otto the Good!

The other treasure of the Michaelsberg Abbey is the Heavenly Garden; the painted ceiling of the Abbey Church.  Here it is:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

Undertaken in the early part of the seventeenth century, it contains many, many paintings of flowers, trees, and other plants.  There is even a cactus and a pineapple plant (I thought I had taken a photograph of this but find that I did not, so I can't show you).  

The ceiling is awe-inspiring.  Wouldn't you agree?

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

Here is a close up.  You can see a Turk's Cap Lily amongst the floral delights:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

And here is an even closer look.  This foxglove is a work of art.  You know exactly what you are looking at.  Correct in all details, I could have spent all day looking at these little gems!

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

 Here is one more. I am fairly sure it is a geranium although I may be wrong:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

What I particularly like is the care and attention to detail taken by the artist, even though most people among the congregation would not notice the finer points because they were too far away for the eye to see.  And yet how often do we look at a flower but not really 'see' it?  Often we merely gain an impression before moving on to something else.  To have the ability to paint flowers, and to paint them with such detail - that is a talent I wish that I had!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post.  I am glad that I have been able to share with you these two cultural and artistic wonders!

And just before I go I feel I must show you one more thing: The Bamberg Tickler...

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

This sculpture is over the entrance to the old Bishop's Palace.  It shows a 'wild woman' reclining on the ground.  A cherub or some such thing is doing something to her toe and I read where he is supposédly tickling her!  Here is a close up:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

It certainly looks as though he is tickling her, either that or he is pinching her!