Schwetzingen - Schlösser-Magazin

III.
50
Fig. 12: Detail of the cloister
ceiling (Photo: Förderer).
III. Architectural Features
the Orient, 44 and of the abandoning of a
mere fashion – the decorative turquerie – in
favour of a place for the contemplation and
appreciation of Mahomedism.
On 7th June 1815, the young author August
Count of Platen-Hallermund went on an
outing from Neckarau to Schwetzingen.
Afterwards he noted in his journal: “We then
proceeded to the Temple of Minerva. There
was a mosque not too far from it. It was
unlocked and explained to us, how it was
built entirely after the fashion of real Turkish
churches. The buildings adjoining it are
rather large. Inside there is a number of fine
inscriptions, e.g. “The fool carries his heart
on his tongue, the wise man keeps his tongue
in his heart”, or “Gather gold as much as you
need, and wisdom as much as you can”. It
would have served its purpose already if every
curious visitor would only take these sayings
to heart.” 45
44 The 18th century also saw the beginnings of independent
Oriental politics on the part of the German states. Cp.
Erika Günther, Die Faszination des Fremden. Der malerische
Orientalismus in Deutschland, Münster 1990, p. 19.
45 Oskar Hufschmied, “Der Dichter Graf von Platen in Mannheim”,
in: Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter, 1909, no. 1/ January, pp.
55-58.
The Décor of the Cloister
The ceilings of the trellised walks are
decorated with tapestry-like depictions of a
starry sky, reflecting the significance of the
open skies and the celectial bodies in Islamic
culture. According to the Koran, the sky is
roof and ceiling to the earth, created by Allah
as another finite space to complement it. 46
Into this space he set the sun, moon, and the
planets, the cyclic movements of which prove
Allah’s greatness to Man. Sura 7, 54 of the
Koran reads: “The night overtakes the day,
as it pursues it persistently, and the sun, the
moon, and the stars are committed to serve
by His command.” 47 Consequently, the phases
of the moon are depicted in the cloister’s four
corner pavilions to represent the courses of
the celestial bodies, and so the unalterable
laws of God.
There is no contradiction in depicting the
starry sky in the cloister, which is part of the
earthly sphere, or in the “earthly” wisdom of
the inscriptions. Rather they underline the
purpose of the mosque and the cloister – to
be a metaphor of the world in the shape of a
“temple of Mahomet”. 48
(Susan Richter)
46 Vogt-Göknil, ibid., pp. 81ff.
47 Der Koran, Sure 7, 54 (Leipzig 1980, p. 157).
48 Johann Zeyher/J. G. Rieger (Ed.), Schwetzingen und seine
Gartenanlagen. Mit acht von Jury und Schnell gestochenen
Ansichten und dem Plane des Gartens, Mannheim 1824, p. 113.