Munich and Day Two in Bamberg!

Hello!! Today I write to you from a train in Sweden, somewhere between Stockholm and Linköping, to tell you about my adventures in Munich and Bamberg last week!

On Tuesday 10 November, I took a train to Munich! I saw the Glockenspiel and somehow repressed the desire to buy a very expensive cuckoo clock. Munich is a beautiful city, with towering monuments and serene parks at the same time.

The Munich Glockenspiel 

In the Englisch Garten 

In the Englisch Garten 

My main goal in Munich was to visit the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (Bavarian National Museum) to see their medieval textiles. I had made an appointment with their textile curator, and he gave me permission to photograph them using my tripod and showed me around the exhibit. He was very nice and helpful, so we chatted a bit and then I got to work.

Bayerisches Nationalmuseum 

The collection of medieval textiles at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum was incredible. Once again, I finally got to meet several tapestries that I have known only from photographs in my books. The crown jewel for me was the small depiction of a Dominican nun weaving on a tapestry loom. She is located in the very bottom edge of the Adoration of the Magi tapestry woven by nuns in Heilig Grab, a Dominican convent in Bamberg, around the year 1500. Much scholarly ink has been spilled over what this small image means—is it a signature, a devotional figure, a self-portrait, or a call to monastic productivity?

Adoration of the Magi, Tapestry, Woven in Heilig Grab Dominican monastery, Bamberg, ca. 1500.  Munich: Bayerisches Nationalmuseum. 

Detail of the weaving Dominican nun! 

After hours in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, I decided to make the trek to the Alte Pinakothek, a museum that houses many famous Northern Renaissance paintings. I was especially excited to get to see the 1500 self-portrait of Albrecht Dürer! I stayed at the museum until they closed, and then took the train back to The Reuth.

Self-Portrait of Albrecht Dürer, 1500. Munich: Alte Pinakothek. 

Be still my heart! Albrecht Dürer's monogram with my very own eyes! 

And an ugly Dürer baby Jesus. Because what would the Renaissance be without ugly babies? 

Then on Wednesday 11 November, I visited Bamberg again. This time, I was going to the Bamberg Diozesanmuseum (Bamberg Diocesan Museum). But before the museum opened, I stopped into the Bamberg Cathedral again. Shockingly, I was the only one there! I had the entire cathedral to myself! So what is one to do in such a situation? Take a selfie!!!

Along with some fabulous early embroidered vestments, the Diozesanmuseum is home to a large tapestry depicting Passion scenes. The Passion tapestry takes up an entire wall, and is filled with rich and gory details. Like the Adoration of the Magi tapestry in Munich, the Passion tapestry was woven by the nuns in Heilig Grab. And also like the Adoration of the Magi tapestry, the Passion tapestry includes an image of the weavers in the bottom border. For whatever reason, these two weaving nuns are more often publicized and discussed than the single nun in the Adoration tapestry.

Passion Tapestry, Woven in Heilig Grab Dominican monastery in Bamberg, ca. 1500.

Bamberg: Diozesanmuseum. (This is not my image, but one from a publication about the tapestry.)

Can you spot the teeny weaving nuns? They are under Christ carrying the cross. 

Passion Tapestry, Woven in Heilig Grab Dominican monastery in Bamberg, ca. 1500.

Bamberg: Diozesanmuseum. (This is not my image, but one from a publication about the tapestry.)

Weaving nuns are in the bottom right corner here! 

Passion Tapestry, Woven in Heilig Grab Dominican monastery in Bamberg, ca. 1500.

Bamberg: Diozesanmuseum. (This is not my image, but one from a publication about the tapestry.)

There they are!! 

Anyway, I spoke with the Director of the museum for a bit and took my detailed macro-lens photos of the weaving nuns. The nuns depicted in this tapestry and those in the Adoration tapestry are the only known instances in which nuns wove themselves into their compositions, making them especially enigmatic and interesting to consider.

After the museum, I walked to the old Carmelite monastery, which still has its cloister mostly in tact. The sculptures and capitals throughout the cloister were so detailed and imaginative! I spent a long time wandering through the cloister, looking at every side of every capital, before heading back home to the Reuth.

Donkeys or dogs or some sort of animal spinning thread with a distaff and spindles! 

A couple more successful days in the life of Frau Bevin in Germany!