As Novalis, he entered world literature with his works. For followers of the early romantic poet there is a research center and a museum in his birthplace. In a former mining region – where blue flowers grow. And not only that.
Oberwiederstedt (dpa/sa) – Around 3,500 people have visited the newly designed Novalis Museum in Oberwiederstedt Castle since it opened in 2022. It is part of the research center that deals with the life and work of the poet, lawyer and scientist at the birthplace, according to its director, Steffen Schmidt. There are extensive plans for 2023, for example for a permanent exhibition. “We want to bring the cultural heritage associated with Novalis and his time and his work in mining even more into the present.” According to the information, special offers for young people and school classes are also planned.
The response to the special exhibition and the opening of the museum on the occasion of the writer’s 250th birthday in 2022 was very great. “Most people wanted to know more about who Novalis was, how he lived, what he wrote in the authentic place,” said the museum director. Because not every visitor is an insider and knows the place with Oberwiederstedt Castle in the Mansfeld-Südharz district. The writer Novalis was also a lawyer, natural scientist and active in the mining industry. These sides of his life should be illuminated even more in the future, said Schmidt.
Novalis is considered the most important representative of early romanticism. With his works, the poet went down in world literature. He was born Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg (1722-1801) in Oberwiederstedt in 1722. According to experts, Novalis made the “blue flower” a symbol of the romantic “longing for the infinite” in his novel “Heinrich von Ofterdingen”. He died in Weißenfels (Burgenlandkreis) in 1801 at the age of only 28, where there is a memorial for him today.
According to Schmidt, there is a desire to connect the places of activity even more – to offer visitors the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of Novalis. An installation with blue flowers in the castle park was also well received by visitors to the museum in Oberwiederstedt.
The district of Mansfeld-Südharz, a former copper mining region, has a lot to offer for cultural tourists, said Schmidt. Not far from Oberwiederstedt, three Luther museums are authentic sites of Reformation history. The theologian Martin Luther was born in Eisleben in 1483 and grew up in the neighboring town of Mansfeld. After years in Wittenberg, he died on a journey home in Eisleben in 1546.
