2024 | Decline and Longing.
The Romance of Ruins.
Even in the late 18th century, castle and palace ruins were regarded as heaps of rubble, a source of cheap building materials. The change came with Romanticism, particularly through the artist Caspar David Friedrich, who would celebrate his 250th birthday in 2024. The images of the Romantics and their successors in the 19th century greatly shaped the perception of ruins as elements of the landscape and changed the way they were viewed.
An important facet of Romanticism was the fascination with ruins. During this time, ruins were not only seen as physical remnants of past civilizations but also as symbols of the transience of life, melancholy, and longing for an idealized past, evoking feelings of sublimity and solitude. The ruins of the Paulinzella monastery church have been integrated into the natural, emotionally charged landscape of the Rottenbach Valley as a romantic ruin. With the departure from Baroque, a wild-romantic landscape emerged in Paulinzella, with the ruin as the most significant, genuine backdrop, infused with a certain romantic mystique. The ruin of the monastery church became a place of longing and silence, where reality merged with fantasy.
The exhibition presents a small selection of paintings, graphics, and porcelain that focus on the Paulinzella monastery ruins during the Romantic era.
Exhibition opening: March 19, 2024, 6:00 PM, Paulinzella Monastery - ThüringenForst Office
2023 | Wolves in sheep's clothing, sheep in wolf's clothing.
An evolutionary arms race between predator and prey | March 22 to October 31, 2023.
Special Exhibition at the Paulinzella Monastery, ThüringenForst Office
While browsing through the Duden dictionary, the synonyms for the word "Raub" (robbery) include "theft, appropriation, removal, and seizure." In Middle and Old High German, the word means "(the seized from the killed enemy)." But does this actually reflect the animal kingdom? What is a "predator," and what is prey? Who is evil and who is good, or is this question unanswerable?
Over the course of evolution, various animal species have developed sophisticated life strategies that allow them to survive even in the most remote corners of our planet. The special exhibition focuses on their extraordinary strategies—hunting strategies that ensure the survival of the predators. They act cleverly and with elaborate methods, either alone or in groups. However, prey animals also want to survive—creating a power struggle in the evolutionary arms race between predator and prey.
2022 | A bird's view
Tierisch was los im Kloster | 23 March to 31 October 2022
Exhibition in the ThüringenForst office building in Paulinzella
Surrounded by rich woodland, the ruins of the Paulinzella monastery church, one of the most important Romanesque sacred buildings in Germany, are enthroned in a true natural idyll – where Rottenbach and Bärenbach join, the walls of the time-honoured complex radiate peace and devotion, telling an eventful story from long ago. On closer inspection, however, there is movement in the cracks and crevices of the ruins, for every year kestrels raise their young high up, well protected in the stone of the former monastery. This is not an unusual nesting place for the elegant flyer, which is not called the »church falcon« for nothing. The special exhibition in the Official House provides insights into the course of a falcon's year and gives exciting facts about the biology of the species. The view of the falcons from their bird's-eye view also offers diverse insights into the nature of the surroundings – because from high above, many other animals can be discovered that find a rich habitat in and around the monastery ruins.
2021 | In the monk's garden
21 March to 31 October 2021
Exhibition in the ThüringenForst office building in Paulinzella
Until the 18th century, the principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was densely forested. Numerous trades used wood as a natural resource, so it is hard to imagine this period without forestry as an economic basis. Wood was used in a variety of ways - as a source of energy for hammer forges and glassworks, for the extraction of charcoal, pot (ash) and resin for the production of pitch and soot, and finally also for use in handicrafts, whereby the quality of the wood was particularly important. The sale of wood also contributed to the exploitation of the forests. In the 19th century, a steadily increasing shortage of wood finally led to the transformation of forestry.
Today, the forest is still changing and new risks threaten its species composition – flora and fauna alike. Water shortages and pests are examples of the challenges the forests face. The special exhibitions at Heidecksburg Palace and, in cooperation with ThüringenForst, at the Paulinzella office building were intended to shed light on the changes in the forests in the former territories of the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and to portray botanical treasures in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district in greater detail. The exhibitions showed the diverse nature of their own surroundings, they sensitised and inspired. It was not dying forests, but the power of colourful forest nature that was brought to the fore.
The white fir shaped our native forests more than 500 years ago, but today it joins the list of rare tree species. Through the use of this tree, which can be experienced directly on site, the white fir was the focus of the special exhibition in Paulinzella.
2020 | Hidden
Excavations at Paulinzella Monastery | 21 March to 31 October 2020
The ruins of the Romanesque monastery church of Paulinzella rise impressively in the valley meadow and tell of the former size and importance of the monastery complex. Some of the monastery buildings have been altered, rebuilt or demolished over the course of time. Several restorations, monument preservation measures, building investigations and excavations have been carried out on the grounds of Paulinzella Monastery and bring to life the history of this complex, which has always attracted travellers, poets and painters. The most recent building excavation was carried out with the comprehensive renovation of the official building, and renovation and safeguarding work is taking place on the monastery church itself.
Meanwhile, archaeology has a little helper at its side – the mole. It is worth taking a closer look at the animal of the year 2020, because its reputation is often worse than it should be and even as an »auxiliary archaeologist« it unearths exciting artefacts from the soil. The special exhibition not only illuminated the field of archaeology by means of finds around Paulinzella, but also spanned the arc to nature through diverse information about the Animal of the Year 2020.
