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Bavarian Arts in Bad Reichenhall
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Bavarian Arts in Bad Reichenhall
By Bonnie Neely
Photos By Bill Neely
Our trip to Bavaria was to concentrate on the craftsmanship of today's artists who are continuing traditional art. The arts have long been a focus of Bad Reichenhall, a prosperous town in the Alps not far from Salzberg, Austria. At Reichenhaller Akademie we met the director, Rupert Fegg, who took us into the painting studio and we watched fifteen artists painting pictures of a live model. The Academy sponsors year-round classes in painting, drawing, enamel and metals, and sculpture, taught by world-famous artists for one to three weeks.
In the display gallery we saw works by exceptionally talented and well-trained artists. Students must be selected by their portfolio merits. This superior art program is highly respected in Europe but little-known in the English speaking world, and many of the classes have English-speaking teachers. Artists who are interested Click here. When you travel to this area you'll enjoy the excellent Salz Museum which is also in this building. It is an excellent place to learn about the Salts, or white gold, which have been mined here for centuries. In former times this was one of the most important trade routes in Europe.
Next we headed to the cobble-stoned artists' square of Bad Reichenhall, which is centered with a huge Maypole. It was decorated with ribbons and topped with an evergreen tree and garlands, which stay up until snowy weather. It is erected each May Day in the town's festival on May 1 to bring good luck and symbolize the bounty of summer. We stopped at the Founders' Statue where on Easter every two years each person in the town brings an egg which he or she has decorated in red to create a colorful display for worship and to ask for abundant crops and blessings. Decorating eggs is an ancient traditional art in Bavaria and Austria, and we were privileged to watch a famous Bavarian artist, Brigitte Machwitz (08651\3752) at her gallery/shop.
She is one of the artists who continue the egg painting tradition today professionally. She paints eggs for spring and Christmas balls for winter. Fascinated, we watched her create one of her well-known Christmas decorations, a special glass ball which a glass-blower makes just for her. Miraculously fast, she painted an enchanting scene of a Bavarian house in the snow. Brigette inherited her talent and learned her skills from her father, who was an artist and also painted many of the detailed fresco scenes on the sides of public buildings and homes which you see throughout Bavaria. Her father inhaled poisonous fumes from the lead paints he used and died early. For this reason Brigette has decided to use only acrylics. She hand-cuts and paints wood decorations, boxes, guardian angels, pictures to hang, gift items of all kinds, but she specializes in painting the glass Christmas balls and in the carving and painting eggs of ostridges, geese, and chickens. Her designs are limitless, and she free-hand carves intricate filigree work into the eggshells using a dental drill. Her delicate work is amazing, especially considering the fragility of the eggshells. Each of these original creations requires many hours. These are treasured by many collectors. Also some of her creations are reasonably priced for a very special souvenir of your visit. Famous throughout Germany, Brigette has been featured on TV demonstrating her art. She sells her special creations in gift shops throughout the world.
Next we drove a few minutes away to Berchtesgaten where Ursurla Karbacher from the tourism department was our capable and friendly English-speaking guide and made our walk around the town so interesting. We were fortunate to have a lovely afternoon in this in a gorgeous setting, surrounded by Alps with part of the town in the valley by the river and part on a high peak overlooking the valley…just lovely! Here we wanted to see Heimatmuseum, “Schloss Adelsheim,”the Bavarian museum to preserve traditional crafts.
As far back as the Middle Ages some of the crafts we saw were originated by the monks and men of the village. Their total livelihood had been farming and selling beer, but hard times came and they needed more work, so they formed a box-making guild and made beautiful, waterproof boxes of thinly-sliced wood, which were soon in high demand all over Europe for shipping things. The museum features excellent displays explaining how these unique boxes were made by soaking the wood shavings in water and using glue made from animal bones to stick the pieces together in a wooden press. Most of these boxes were undecorated and utilitarian, for shipping cheese or grain, clothing, medicines, and other items. Peddlers carried on a wooden back-pack and walked all over Bavaria selling them.
Then some artists decided to decorate some of the boxes using vegetable dyes and carved wooden stamps to print the designs, and several intricate patterns developed. Other artisans used dyed straw to decorate the boxes with inlaid work of amazing intricacy and beauty. These artistic boxes became prized possessions, and a few craftsmen continue the tradition today. Their work is for sale in the museum shop. The ancient boxes are carefully preserved and displayed in glass cases at the museum. Other important crafts from ancient times which artisans still make today include carved wood figures for Christmas crèche scenes and dioramas. A special collection of very tiny hand-carved figures is one of the museum treasures. We thought the wood toys from several hundred years ago were Christmas tree decorations.
We marveled at the intricately-carved bone and ivory items, requiring skills and materials which no craftsmen in the area today have. The collection of ancient pieces is astonishing in its delicacy and detail. A few artists today do, however, continue hand-carving intricate patterns in wood items
Large marionettes from about 100 years ago stared at us from their glass enclosures, recalling a time when adults and children alike were enthralled with these puppet shows.
The museum director, Barbara, has done a wonderful job with the collections and continues to add to them, preserving the crafts of the past and promoting education of the present-day artisans for future continuity of these traditions. The local government sponsors the museum shop and cooperates in selecting only the finest of handmade items for sale here. It is the best place to choose your quality Bavarian souvenirs.
Throughout the oldest part of Berchtesgaden we marveled at the beautiful, three-dimensional frescoes painted on the typical Bavarian houses and buildings which line the pedestrian shopping area. Many skilled artists painted these frescoes on a regular basis throughout the area in past centuries. Today only a few are skilled in this art form and are in demand to preserve these valuable historical pictures and to continue to decorate in the old style.To our delight the Bavarian scene was complete when, as if on a stage director's cue, along came the old beer wagon full of kegs and pulled by very large draft horses, bedecked with beautiful harnesses trimmed in silver. The two bier-masters, dressed in the brown leather pants with brightly-colored suspenders and cocky little hats, sold us our first German beer in the traditional way, off the back of the wagon. German beer is really smooth but very strong.
Continuing our Alpine Highway drive into the picturesque, deep green mountains, just out of town we stopped to take pictures. Everywhere we looked in the National Forest deserved the camera, but time your drive better than we did because the sun was setting before we got all of our shots. As if on cue from a movie director some Seminthal cattle wandered toward us tinkling their carved neck bells as they returned from mountain pastures for the night.
Don't miss spending time in Berchtesgaden National Park with its Mount Watzmann, German's second tallest peak. Also the beautiful Lake Konigssee is a must. A gondola takes you to the summit of Mount Jenner with its spectacular view of Lake Konigssee and the surrounding Alps. Your visit to this part of Bavaria would not be complete without a visit Mt. Kehlstein, at 1,834 meters, on which Eagle's Nest was built with its amazing views, a gift to Hitler from the troops on his 50th birthday. Many people believe it should be destroyed because of the connection with Hitler, but he got altitude sickness and could only go there a few brief times, and the place is too beautiful to destroy.
The beautiful Alps remind us of the Cascades and Rocky Mountain National Park in the United States. We ended our happy day of exploring at Lake Hintersee where we shared a delicious meal of typical food: weiner schnitzel, potatoes, a tasty salad, and hearty bread and beer, all for just eight Euros! Then we returned to our wonderful five star Hotel Steigenberger Axelmannstein in Bad Reichenhall, where we luxuriated in the relaxing spa.
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