Wow, @dw_culture, another building I can talk about - the Grabkapelle! Now here's a building with a story they don't necessarily tell you...
King Wilhelm of Württemberg was a beloved king, modernising his realm, including helping it survive 1816, the 'Year Without A Summer', when Mt Tambora's eruption lead to famine across Europe.

He was also athletic, and had a killer moustache, unlike his predecessors...
Wilhelm was married to Catharina Pavlovna Romanova, daughter of the Russian Tsar, Paul I.

It was both a strategic marriage, and a love match, for a time...
Catharina and Wilhelm were a very popular couple with the subjects of the Kingdom of Württemberg, and Catharina was hugely into charity.

There's a hospital and a school she founded still in Stuttgart....
However, Wilhelm had a problem. He couldn't keep little Wilhelm in his pants. This is somewhat of a tendency of the House of Württemberg.

In January 1819, Wilhelm was carrying on with Blanche de la Flèche, an Italian noblewoman. Catharina confronted him about it...
Following the confrontation, Catharina, wearing only a thin dress, followed Wilhelm as he went to see Blanche at Scharnhauser Park, not far from where I live.

There was another confrontation, and Catharina headed back to Stuttgart in her carriage...
It was a wet and cold night, however, and Catharina had become drenched in the rain.

She was already Ill, and developed the flu. A sore on her mouth also became very infected, leading to a stroke. She died on 9th January 1819.
Wilhelm was so bereft at the sudden death of his wife, and so ashamed of his behaviour (it was pretty much common knowledge how much of a philanderer he was) that he had the last remnants of the 'Württemberg', his ancestral castle torn down, at Rötenberg, near Untertürkheim...
In its place, between 1820 and 1824, the built a funeral chapel, the 'Grabkapelle', where Catharina was interred.

Russian Orthodox services are still held there...
When you go there, however, and see the inscription that reads 'Die Liebe höret nimmer auf' - 'Love never stops', just take a moment to consider why the Grabkapelle was built in the first place. /FIN

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More from @MikeStuchbery_

22 Dec
I was asked about 'Sissi' yesterday, and why the Germans are so nuts about her (and her fictional adaptations). Here's #5ThingsToKnow...
5. She had a (relatively) laid-back upbringing.

Elisabeth was born to Maximilian, Duke in Bavaria in 1837. While member of the royal Wittelsbach family, she wasn't the eldest daughter of the main branch and was allowed to, well, *mostly* do her own thing.
Unfortunately, she caught the eye of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, instead of her older sister, Helene. A marriage was arranged and 'Sissi', as she was named, was thrown into the midst of the stuffy Habsburg court.
Read 10 tweets
21 Dec
You want to know about Barockschloss Ludwigsburg? Too bad, I'm going to tell you some stuff about it, as it's my 'local'...
It all came about because Eberhard Ludwig, Duke of Württe.berg, decided in 1704 that he wanted a big old palace from which to be an absolutist Duke, and do absolutist things. So, picking an old hunting lodge, he started to extend it...
Thing is, though, to build a residential palace, you need a workforce. To gain a workforce, they needed somewhere to live. So, alongside the palace, he founded the town of Ludwigsburg, now adjacent to Stuttgart.
Read 12 tweets
14 Dec
Here's what's happening today in Germany, from
@TheLocalGermany. #todayingermany

First, we explain the rather complex rules around meeting friends and family over this rather extraordinary Christmas... thelocal.de/20201214/what-…
Next, Bayern is to lock down with a curfew between 9pm and 5pm, whatever happens regarding meetings of the federal goverment. thelocal.de/20201213/bavar…
Finally, industrial giant @thyssenkrupp_en has rejected state aid to help it during the pandemic, judging repayment costs too high. thelocal.de/20201212/germa…
Read 4 tweets
3 Dec
Here's what's happening today in Germany, the 3rd of December, from @TheLocalGermany. #TodayinGermany
First, Germany's partial lockdown will run to January 10, the government and states have agreed. thelocal.de/20201202/break…
Next, we look at BioNTech, the German enterprise that help create the Covid-19 vaccine now being rolled out in the UK. thelocal.de/20201202/biont…
Read 4 tweets
30 Nov
The Society for German Language (@_gfds_) have announced their 'Word/s of the Year'. Let's go through them!
1 & 2 are 'Corona-pandemie' and 'Lockdown'. Duh. Fairly self-explanatory there.
3 is 'Verschwörungserzählung' is, essentially, 'conspiracy theory'.
Read 10 tweets
21 Nov
With the news of *another* case of sexual cannibalism in Germany out there, maybe it's time to go over the fact that, well, eating folks has a long history there...
Let's make something clear first, however: Archaeologists, historians and anthropologists *hate* saying that cannibalism was unequivocally practiced at a site - so let's take everything with trace amounts of salt - there could be other explanations, of course...
The story starts around 7,000 years ago in South-West Germany, at a place that is now called Herxheim. While building a new housing development, archaeologists doing an inspection found the remains of 1,000 people who appear to had been eaten...
Read 13 tweets

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