When I saw this house, my first thought was: “I’m glad I don’t have to pay their heating bills.” Perhaps that is why the “Private Museum” in the Heidi Weber House was only open during the summer months, if at all, because it would have been too expensive to heat. Read More …
There has been some sort of castle or palace on this spot since the year 999, at least. In its current form as a palace, it was first built in the eighteenth century for the ruling Count Wilhelm Heinrich of Nassau-Saarbrücken, but has been added to since then and was Read More …
The three big museums of Metz are all together in one complex, called La Cour d’or (The Golden Courtyard). The first is the archeology museum, which was built on the site of the ancient Roman baths that were excavated here starting in 1932. As in Saarbrücken, which is 60 km Read More …
Paris has finally found a good use for its Bourse de Commerce, an impressive circular building that was originally used as a wheat market in the eighteenth century. (I imagine that this was where Balzac’s Père Goriot made his fortune as a wholesale grain dealer during the French Revolution.) François Read More …
The Cluny Museum (National Museum of the Middle Ages) in the Latin Quarter of Paris has reopened after being closed for a year and a half. The displays have been totally reorganized and are now mainly in chronological order. Ramps and elevators have been installed to connect the different levels Read More …
Admission to the German Pharmacy Museum is included in the ticket for Heidelberg Castle. The museum is located in one of the castle buildings called the Ottheinrichbau, which is mainly a ruin but still has enough usable rooms to house a museum. As I have mentioned elsewhere, the Ottheinrichbau was named Read More …
When I arrived in Luzern (aka Lucerne) I was surprised to see a sign pointing to a Richard Wagner Museum. I had come to Luzern to see an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, and had completely forgotten that Wagner lived here off and on during his long exile from Germany resulting Read More …
As a non-flyer, I wasn’t planning on spending much time (if any) in the aviation exhibits at the Swiss Transport Museum in Luzern. But then by mistake I chose the wrong museum entrance and found myself in a high-tech exhibit on SkyGuide, the Swiss air traffic control agency. Under ordinary Read More …
The Transportation Museum (Verkehrsmuseum) in Nürnberg is now officially called the DB-Museum because it belongs to the German Railway System (DB = Deutsche Bahn). It documents the history of the railroads in Germany from the beginning (which was right here, since the first line was between Nürnberg and Fürth in Read More …
This is the courthouse where the “Nuremberg Trial” was held from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. On trial were 21 high-ranking representatives of the Nazi regime, charged with conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. At the end of this marathon trial twelve defendants were Read More …