I continued to live in Bamberg for a second month to continue work on my various Jerusalem research projects. I spent much of my time examining what Western pilgrims and travelers who came to Jerusalem from the 14th to 19th centuries wrote about the Masjid al-Aqsa compound. I also spend some days translating into English a long Arabic document about Jerusalem in the 19th and 20th centuries for a website about Jerusalem being prepared by the Jordanian Royal Scientific Society.
During the month I also met my colleagues Anja Heidenreich and Ilse Sturkenboom to discuss progress on the report of our archaeological survey in the Visakhapatnam District of India last December and plans for a second season this coming December.
On June 6 I went to the nearby city of Erlangen to meet two colleagues of early Christian art and archaeology at the university there: Ute Verstegen and Carola Jäggi.
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The next day June 7 was Corpus Christi Day, a state holiday in Bavaria, marked by a big religious procession through the old city in the morning.
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That afternoon I went to Erlangen again to meet Jürgen Zangenberg, a Hellenistic and Roman historian who is one of the editors of the encyclopedia for which I had written my Roman Jerusalem article last month.
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On Saturday June 16 I joined a day-long nature hike, led by naturalist Hermann Bösch. One highpoint of the trip was him showing us a cluster of some 15 plants belonging to a very rare and endangered species. We also saw an early medieval archaeological site with little to see above the surface.
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On Friday June 22 I had to move out of my apartment because someone else had rented the apartment for the weekend a long time ago. So I went to the city of Meiningen in southern Thuringia, a two-hour train ride away. On Saturday I went to the nearby village of Rohr to visit my two friends Armin and Terini, who were both students of mine in Hyderabad. That evening I attended a performance of Wagner’s early opera Das Liebesverbot, based on Shakespeare’s comedy Measure for Measure at the South Thuringia State Theater. The opera was nice enough, but I could understand why it is only rarely performed. On Sunday morning I went to Meiningen’s Elizabeth Palace museum and the English Garden with its artificial romantic ruins. That afternoon Armin and Terini drove me back to Bamberg and they went on to see the State Garden Show.
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Later that afternoon, I went to the nearby town of Ebern and walked around for a couple of hours before returning to Bamberg and moving back into my apartment.
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During the month I also met my colleagues Anja Heidenreich and Ilse Sturkenboom to discuss progress on the report of our archaeological survey in the Visakhapatnam District of India last December and plans for a second season this coming December.
On June 6 I went to the nearby city of Erlangen to meet two colleagues of early Christian art and archaeology at the university there: Ute Verstegen and Carola Jäggi.
Ute Verstegen in the university scent garden
The next day June 7 was Corpus Christi Day, a state holiday in Bavaria, marked by a big religious procession through the old city in the morning.
The procession with the offices of the Natural History Museum (where I had my office in 2007) in the background
One of the statues being put back
That afternoon I went to Erlangen again to meet Jürgen Zangenberg, a Hellenistic and Roman historian who is one of the editors of the encyclopedia for which I had written my Roman Jerusalem article last month.
Jürgen Zangenberg, his daughter and me
In the middle of the month was a series of concerts on the theme the Turks Before Vienna; the group Accentus Austria gave two concerts of Austro-Hungarian music. I bought their CD, which I listened to a lot in the following days. Also part of the series was a lecture about Alla Turca music, in which a pianist played a piano with a janissary novelty pedal that produced a thump and rang a bell.
The piano with the janissary element
Hermann Bösch at the find spot of the rare plant.
The group at the archaeological site
On Friday June 22 I had to move out of my apartment because someone else had rented the apartment for the weekend a long time ago. So I went to the city of Meiningen in southern Thuringia, a two-hour train ride away. On Saturday I went to the nearby village of Rohr to visit my two friends Armin and Terini, who were both students of mine in Hyderabad. That evening I attended a performance of Wagner’s early opera Das Liebesverbot, based on Shakespeare’s comedy Measure for Measure at the South Thuringia State Theater. The opera was nice enough, but I could understand why it is only rarely performed. On Sunday morning I went to Meiningen’s Elizabeth Palace museum and the English Garden with its artificial romantic ruins. That afternoon Armin and Terini drove me back to Bamberg and they went on to see the State Garden Show.
The artificial romantic ruins in Meiningen
Armin, Terini and Viktor
Later that afternoon, I went to the nearby town of Ebern and walked around for a couple of hours before returning to Bamberg and moving back into my apartment.
An historic bridge with statues in Ebern
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