“A feeling gradually steals over you as though it were all a land of wonders or as if the happy isles were rising up before you ...”
(Theodor Fontane: “Walking Tours in the Mark Brandenburg”)
As Fontane discovered, the idyllic expanses of the Brandenburg countryside provide not only exercise for the legs but food for the mind as well – space in which new ideas can germinate and take shape. Perhaps that is why the finest minds of all ages have always had a natural affinity with Brandenburg.
Schloss Neuhardenberg in Brandenburg is one such cradle of inspiration. In the recent past the federal cabinet has met here twice, finding the tranquillity and harmony of the landscaped park an ideal setting for fundamental policy decisions. Two hundred years ago another reformer found similar inspiration at the stately home. This was where Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg first formulated the ideas which later became known as the Stein/Hardenbergsche Reforms and which made Prussia the blueprint for other modern states.
Reform has a long tradition in Brandenburg. Throughout history the state has struggled to reaffirm its identity in the face of great upheavals. The Industrial Revolution, the Second World War and German Reunification all left deep traces in the lives of its people – and provided fertile ground for new ideas. A roll-call of famous names have found inspiration in the special allure aura Brandenburg exudes. It was at Derwitz near Potsdam in 1891 that Otto Lilienthal made the first flight in the history of mankind, whilst Albert Einstein built his summer residence at Caputh as a place where he could commune with nature after his own flights through the universe of quantum physics.
And from an early period the pure clear air of the Mark attracted not just ramblers but astronomers as well. 1876 saw the beginning of work at the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam on what was to be the Astrophysical Observatory, the first of its kind in the world.
The sheer beauty of the countryside has proven a deep source of inspiration to poets and philosophers like Theodor Fontane and Heinrich von Kleist, and is also an enduring theme in the works of writers like Bettina von Arnim, Bertolt Brecht, Gerhard Hauptmann and Kurt Tucholsky – to mention but a few.
And the rich assortment of castles, palaces and monasteries with which the state is favoured, bear testimony to the grand sweep of Brandenburg’s rich history from Margrave Albrecht the Bear to Frederick the Great.
Many of Brandenburg’s great names have a reputation that shines far beyond regional borders. Architects like Karl-Friedrich Schinkel put their own unmistakable stamp on the country, whilst pioneering landscape gardeners like Peter Joseph Lenné and Hermann Fürst von Pückler-Muskau created new styles in park and garden design.
And even today Brandenburg continues to provide a rich source of inspiration to its sons and daughters. Armin Müller-Stahl, the actor from Uckermark, first began a career that would lead to Hollywood fame in Brandenburg, while Vicco von Bülow better known as “Loriot” is the nation’s most brilliant and best loved humorist. International top athletes first learnt what winning means in Brandenburg – like the World Champion boxer, Henri Maske or Birgit Fischer, several times world champion and Olympic gold medal winner in canoeing, or the 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam who gave not one but four players to the winning German National Football Team at the Women’s World Cup.
But it is not just the countryside that is rich in inspiration. Brandenburg is an open liberal land – by tradition. In 1685 Friedrich Wilhelm, the Great Prince Elector, issued the Edict of Potsdam, inviting Huguenots fleeing persecution in France to come and settle on his territory and opening the land for immigrants. The Dutch Quarter in Potsdam shows the distinct influence of the Dutch craftsmen who settled there in the middle of the 18th century. Today approx. 2.6 percent of the population are foreigners, making a major contribution to the future development of Brandenburg.
The poet Theodor Fontane himself came from an old Huguenot family.
“But the best you are going to meet, the very best – that will be the people.” (Theodor Fontane, “Walking Tours in the Mark Brandenburg”)
The writers and poets Heinrich v. Kleist and Theodor Fontane - just two of many famous names from Brandenburg
