North Tower - Schloss Drachenburg

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The Iconographic Programme at Schloss Drachenburg Due to the turbulent history of Schloss Drachenburg, the original iconographic programme (or series of paintings) has not survived completely. After the Second World War and during the time the castle stood vacant in the 1960s, souvenir hunters and vandals left their mark in more ways than one. Nevertheless, historical photos and document sources at our disposal, not to mention the canvases still in existence, give a good indication today of what Stephan von Sarter, the owner/builder and a “man of artistic sensibility”, had in mind for Schloss Drachenburg as a “bastion of German art […] in whose splendid rooms the poetry and beauty of the Rhine, its history and its myths would be given a unique memorial”. (Johannes Proelss in Frankfurter Zeitung, 24.9.1884) In the days of old, a visitor to the castle would be welcomed in the vestibule by two fairytale pictures now long lost: Schneewittchen (Snow White) and Dornröschen (Sleeping Beauty) as painted by the Munich artist Joseph Flüggen (1842-1906). The re-awakening symbolism of the fairytales, a direct reference to the revival of the German Empire in 1870/71, was a generally known and frequently used image. The prince rouses Sleeping Beauty from a hundred years of slumber and Germany, liberated by Kaiser Wilhelm I, becomes a new imperial power. Seen here as a photo-reproduction on the wall, the depiction of Snow White – whose blond hair harks back to the early Grimm Brothers‘ version of 1808 – shows her sitting somewhat elevated in a hollow gnarled (German) oak-tree whilst her six (!) dwarves bear gifts of homage such as crystals and minerals etc. The two fairytale-themed paintings were superimposed by two river allegories, also by Joseph Flüggen, in the pointed-arch sections under the vault. These paintings have disappeared too. A river allegory of Father Rhine with the Mosel was depicted in the middle section above the corridor towards the Reception Room. His daughters, the rivers Neckar and Lahn were on the left and the rivers Ahr and Main on the right, next to the Rhine. The paintings originally alluded to territorial annexation and local landscapes. In the higher section of the Main Staircase, above the landing, there used to be depictions (no longer extant) of the Loreley and the Maid of Drachenfels by Eduard Unger(1853-1894) which also created a link to the fairytale pictures of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.
Joseph Flüggen: Sleeping Beauty Postcard, 1905 (Archiv Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH) Joseph Flüggen: Neckar Postcard, 1903 (extract) (Archiv Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH) Joseph Flüggen: Father Rhine Postcard, 1903 (extract) (Archiv Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH) Joseph Flüggen: Ahr Postcard, 1903 (extract) (Archiv Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH) 20
Page 1 and 2: Schloss Drachenburg Visitors’ Gui
Page 3 and 4: Intro Dear Visitor, It is a great p
Page 5 and 6: Architectural Decoration The design
Page 7 and 8: Venus Terrace The Venus Terrace pla
Page 9 and 10: „Save the Petersberg!“ The Pete
Page 11 and 12: The Icon of Rhine Romanticism: the
Page 13 and 14: Nordic Summer Houses The second own
Page 15 and 16: Wotan Summer House After Jacob Hube
Page 17 and 18: Sea of Rocks Geologically speaking,
Page 19 and 20: Roland‘s Arch, Rhine Romanticism
Page 21 and 22: Nature Conversationists and the Dra
Page 23: A view from the east into the Main
Page 27 and 28: Looking into the Hunting Trophy and
Page 29 and 30: Lacunae in the Main Staircase paint
Page 31 and 32: Reception Room, postcard 1905 (Arch
Page 33 and 34: For further information about the C
Page 35 and 36: Dining Room, postcard 1905 (Archiv
Page 37 and 38: Nibelung Room with a view through t
Page 39 and 40: West side of the Art Gallery with b
Page 41 and 42: Uhland window with lacunae Found 20
Page 43 and 44: Looking into the Tavern Room with t
Page 45 and 46: Hunt & Billiard Room, postcard 1905
Page 47 and 48: Library and Study Postcard 1903 (Ar
Page 49 and 50: Music Room, postcard 1905 - showing
Page 51 and 52: Layout of the Private Floor Porcela
Page 53 and 54: Preserved glass painting entitled Y
Page 55 and 56: Guest Bedroom, postcard 1905 (Archi
Page 57: Reconstructed stencils in the south

North Tower - Schloss Drachenburg

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