| Apr. 22nd, 2008 @ 03:09 pm Schloss Ambras Innsbruck |
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Current Mood:  working
Last night we had the opportunity to see a bard in action. Two of them actually. They showed up dressed in black suits and round brimmed hats, carrying carved, polished wood walking sticks. They walked into the restaurant we were eating at and generally took over everyone’s attention. Afterwards, we asked the waitress why they were allowed to do this and she told us these men travel all over Germany. They stop and tell stories for money to pay for their meals and lodging. I couldn’t help people watching during the performance. Some were listening politely, others staring out the window, some enraptured with the tale and some burying their attentions in their menu—especially when the men came around for the coins. A very interesting experience. I wish I could’ve understood his story.
Today’s pics are here: http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m203/sharrisselva/Germany%20trip/April%2012%202008/
There is so much to see at Schloss Ambras. Armor and paintings; weapons and treasures; architecture and antique books; inlaid wood furniture, chess sets, heraldry and peacocks.
Yeah, I love peacocks...they’re my muse but William is responsible for all the photos of them. It’d been cloudy and cold so when the sun finally came out, they were sunning themselves and let him take their picture.
One of the more curious objects is a pair of boots in which the toes were sewn individually, like a pair of gloves or those socks which were popular in the mid-1970’s. The black and white chessboard is Italian 16th century. The “death as an archer” statue by Hans Leinberger dates to 1520. I wish now I’d bought the little one from the gift shop to put on my desk at home.
On the portraits, there’s one of Vlad IV Tepes (Vlad the Impaler—from Dracula legendry). There’s another of a guy with a wooden pole sticking out of his forehead. It’s a painting of Gregor Baci after an encounter with a lance. There are conflicting stories of whether this happened in tournament or in battle but all report he recovered from his injury. There are also a few portraits of hairy people. It’s a genetic thing which is rare but does happen today.
The armor here is amazing. I tried to get some close up of the engraving detail on some of them. The two samurai armor sets are dated 1580 and once the personal property of Shogun Ieyasau (a man considered to be one of the forefathers of modern Japan). Ambras has a number of oriental art pieces and weaponry pieces. The reason so much weapons and armor survive is due to one of the early Archdukes, Sigmund, collected them.
Not much of the original castle remains due to it’s destruction in 1133. The debris was used to rebuild it so it’s there—sort of. The origin date is unknown but there are manuscripts which mention Ambras in the 10th century ad. As with many of the other castles here, it’s survived war after war, owner after owner with periods of thriving popularity and others of disrepair...which has lost a number of manuscripts, paintings and tapestries to insects and water.
The long hall is called the Spanish Hallway. No one knows why it’s called that but I do see a few names in the castle history which could be Spanish. My guess is perhaps it was created in a Spanish style of the day. |
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