Notes from Naumburg part I

Day 1

After arriving in Naumburg the previous evening, our first full day was spent as a vocational day followed by a club meeting. I spent my vocational day at the University of Leipzig where I got to see the mineralogy department. It was very interesting to learn about what they were currently researching. One of the projects involved old writings on clay pottery. Because papyrus was expensive, many ancient people used to write on their pottery instead. When archaeologists try to clean the mud off of these pots, they often remove some of the writing. So, instead they send it here to Leipzig where they take the sample and use IR Spectroscopy to create a computer image of what is underneath the mud. As you can probably imagine, mostly these are all random pieces of pottery, so it is sort of like a puzzle in trying to figure out which ones might go together.

Next we went to the library, which was too incredible for words to describe (but maybe these pictures will help).

Leipzig is one of the first places that started printing and selling books, shortly after the printing press was invented by Gutenberg. There is a special exhibit in the library of old books which were fascinating. Sometimes the books would have writing on the pages from students who took notes about the topic during a class.

From the library we went into the city center to have lunch and take a look around. Leipzig is known for so many things, and we only had a few hours, so it is impossible to provide a full picture...everything from Bach to Goethe to East/West history to Nazis to amazing architecture...I could have spent weeks there and still not seen everything!

After returning from Leipzig I had a brief hour to relax and then it was off to dinner and the rotary meeting. We exchanged flags, and then headed to one of the host families to watch the soccer game. Germany won (again) so they now advance to the semi-finals. Tomorrow we will see the church and cherry festival, followed by a concert in the evening.

Day 2

We started the day with a tour of the Naumburg cathedral. This church is amazing. It has four steeples, two built in the gothic style and two built in the classic style. We learned a lot about the history of the church, where Martin Luther appointed the first Protestant bishop. Inside the vault of the church is a very rare 4-nail cross...meaning that the feet of Jesus are not together so it takes 4 nails to hold him to the cross. Also different on this crucifix is the fact that his head is up and looking at you and there is no stab wound in his side.

The church is also well known for its large statue designs in the west choir area. What is unique about these statues is that they are not of saints but rather of people of the time the church was built who donated money to create the church. So basically the statues show the first donors.

Following the church tour we went to enjoy the festivities of the Cherry festival, starting with the parade. In this parade, they celebrate the medieval history of Naumburg with different groups each representing a different moment in history, culture, etc.

In the evening, we enjoyed a concert at the church of music by Bach (famous in this area because he was the head of the choir and composed many songs here in Naumburg). Following the concert, we headed to the cherry festival. Basically, this was a large carnival with rides and food and drinks, but also it included a bunch of tents each with different bands playing. The festival lasts for 4 days and it was a lot of fun!

 

We have still a day and a half in Naumburg, so one of us will update later about the rest of our stay here! Their is off to our last city, Halle, before returning home next Thursday! Hard to believe a month has almost passed since we left.

-Sara