What is Germany's Paris, Germany's London?
Some would say Berlin. They might well be right - in a few years
time at least, when Berlin, the capital of Germany, has also regained
its status as its political and cultural centre.
But what about Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Leipzig? That's
the difficult bit - there is no obvious centre in Germany. Germany
is a federally organised country for more that just political reasons.
Germany is historically and culturally made up of many different
provinces and regions known as Länder. The result is that Germany
is 'provincial' in the best sense of the word. The provinces are
themselves centres. Frankfurt is the centre for banking, Hamburg
is the press capital, Munich has some of the most important music
and theatre venues. Pina Bausch's famous Tanztheater is based in
Wuppertal, the electronics trade fair Cebit is in Hannover, Leipzig
too is a major centre for trade fairs and much more besides. There
are significant museums and art collections in Berlin and Munich,
but the centre for modem art is Cologne. And let's not forget Kassel,
not only the venue every five years for the documenta, one of the
biggest contemporary art exhibitions in the world, but also the
location of one of the most significant collections of European
painting.
The regional capitals used to be the residences of counts and kings.
Bavaria and Prussia both had kings. Castles and palaces in the style
of Versailles are to be every town has its theatre, every regional
capital has a world class symphony orchestra. Germany boasts as
many opera houses as the rest of the world put together.
Found in countless cities almost unknown abroad: Würzburg, Bamberg,
Pommersfelden, Schleißheim, Brühl, Schloss Banz - the list goes
on and on. And then there are the many universities, sometimes located
in comfortably small places such as Marburg, Freiburg, Tübingen
or Jena. Every one of them has established an international reputation
in at least one specialist field.
So Germany is 'provincial' That is to say, it is fascinating wherever
you go and you have to have seen a lot before you can say you have
seen Germany, let alone say you know it.
It is precisely because Germany is so multifacetted, so federal,
so 'provincial' that studying it from afar is not enough. You have
to get to know the country, the Länder and their inhabitants for
yourself, not forgetting the language, its dialects, and, of course,
the cuisine.
If you thought you knew Germany think again!
Author: Hans Bauer, Goethe-Institut London
This article first appeared in Studying Abroad magazine
