Postcards from the Past #12: Rudesheim & Kronthal, Germany
Instagram Post of January 6, 2021:
Today’s quote comes from American author, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, after she spent almost two months in Germany in 1839. In September of that year, she and her traveling party left Germany for Switzerland. Heading south from Frankfurt through Darmstadt, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, and Baden-Baden, Catharine absorbed the cottages and cathedrals of the Old World along the way and hoped that the “inventive genius of our people, guided by the rules of art, will devise an architecture for us suited to our condition, and [e]mbodying the element of beauty.”
The last memorable sight before crossing the border was the Gothic cathedral in Freiburg that Catharine thought was “the most exquisitely beautiful of all cathedrals” with its webbed spire “so light in its effect as to give you the idea … of an arrow shooting from the bow.” Without even a photograph to help convey its beauty, however, Catharine gave up trying to describe it in her letters and instead signed off with: “I can go on and give you dimensions, colour, and form, but, after all, there is nothing for you but to come and see.”
There is nothing quite like seeing something for yourself, is there? How many other things can you buy that have the potential to achieve anything comparable to travel for you? May you enjoy each and every one of them in 2021!
For more excerpts from Catharine’s travelogue and pictures of the German castles and villages that Catharine visited, check out today’s Postcards from the Past #12 Facebook post at https://www.facebook.com/awomanofthecentury.
Facebook Post of January 6, 2021:
In Frankfurt, Catharine purchased a “travelling carriage” for their trip south (with views of the Rhine River) to Basel, Switzerland. Before leaving Kronthal, Catharine documented her impressions of Germany and some of her more illuminating conversations with the locals. Check out her letter in the images comparing the relative rights (women’s right to property) and freedoms (to express political opinions) in Germany and the United States. Finally, see the map tracking Catharine’s travels.