Medieval Histories CREDO in Paderborn 2013 September 2013 9:1 Medieval Histories News about our Medieval Heritage & History Black - Münster - Paderborn Cultural Christians CREDO - The Christianisation of Europe Dying Gods - some highlights from the CREDO exhibition Widukind - facts and fictions Waterscape Paderborn Medieval Histories KIMMING ApS © Photo (frontpage): News about our Paradisstien 5 Paderborn on a summerday Medieval Heritage &History DK2840 Holte © Paderborn Diocesan Museum Denmark Editor-in-chief: Karen Schousboe 2013 9:1 www.medievalhistories.com ISBN 978-87-92858-11-5 [email protected] +45 24 23 36 10 2 The Wall around Medieval Paderborn is nearly intact © Medieval Histories Black – Münster – Paderborn In Paderborn in North Western to be an invention of tradition. hounded him out. And yes, the Germany there is no need to set Bishop of Paderborn became a an alarm clock. Each morning a True, Paderborn was founded by Prince of the Empire in 1100 lord- cacophony of chiming bells greets Charlemagne in 795 and was soon ing it over a city with a Cathedral you while the view from your win- embellished by a royal palatio, a and a remarkable series of monas- dow is filled with a panorama of church and a bishopric. And yes, teries, convents and chapels. Later shining church towers towering up it was to Paderborn Pope Leo III the region – Paderborner Land high. Strolling through the streets fled to meet up with Charlemagne – was even termed “Hochstift Pad- you will be met by a series of dedi- after his enemies in Rome had erborn”, an epithet, which is still cated shops selling Catholic vest- ments and other religious para- The Bookshop belonging to the Archdiocese © Medieval Histories phernalia compete with religious bookshops, while chances are high that you meet religious persons walking around airing their cowls or veils as if a 1000 years have passed unnoticed. More Roman Catholic than Rome itself, Pader- born is definitely the Northern- most Catholic Outpost in an alien (Protestant) world. Complete with an Archbishop it is no wonder that locals in North Rhine-Westphalia grammatically compare the adjec- tive black as follows: black – Mün- ster – Paderborn! However, what shines seems more than anything 3 used locally. For instance the local born are Catholics - the Diocese local councillors greet you in the Radio is called “Radio Hochstift”. with its lay and clerical staff is street just because you are a vicar busy seeking to promote a vision – even though you belong to the However, In 1803 – 1815 Pad- of Paderborn as a latter-day Jeru- “wrong” denomination. You will erborner Land became annexed salem. For instance the Cathedral not find that easily elsewhere”! by Prussia and was redefined as regularly have Tridentine Masses Minden. At the same time the lo- said according to the Pre-Vatican- Paderborn and its exhibitions cal government was secularised, II rite, as was recently allowed by Emotions, memories and moral- the Jesuits were expelled and the former Pope Benedict. ity – all should according to the room was made for an evangeli- director of the Diocesan Museum, cal congregation, which found its Although the city also sports a Christoph Stiegemann, be evoked home in the “Abdinghofkirche”, MultiCulti Youth Centre in the in the visitor to a historical exhibi- the former Abbey-Church of the Northwest, the local administra- tion. Since 1999, when Paderborn Benedictines from the 11th cen- tors are obviously happy to go first entered the international tury. Following these changes local along, e.g. promoting and actively scene of museum blockbusters, Catholics began to evolve a new participating in organising the the aim has been exactly this: to consciousness and a new and very traditional “Libori-fest”, celebrat- inspire visitors to engage with not dogmatic Catholic counterculture. ing the patron saint of the city, as only the “past as a foreign coun- Through extensive lobbying this well as the large exhibitions in the try”, but also the moral choices, finally resulted in a reinstallation Museum of the Diocese and the which were involved in its un- of an archbishop, who found his reconstructed Ottonian Palace, folding, as well as the emotional home in a former palace, called which have come to brand the city. dilemmas posed by these choices. Dalheimer Hof in in 1930. According to the Evangelical Pas- By stressing these dimensions the tor in the Abdinghofkirche it is curators have wished to make the Today - even though no more than “peculiar to live in the 21century histories of past events emotion- 60% of the population in Pader- in a city, where the Mayor and the ally and morally pertinent to our The Reliquary of St. Liborius is carried out of the Cathedral. More than 1 mill people take part in the festivities every summer © Michael Bogedain 4 present time. In this sense any well known amongst a wider audi- Thus, there is no doubt that the museum changes into a theatrical ence due to his emblematic status blockbuster exhibitions in Pad- scene. in the EU, the German emperor erborn as elsewhere are risky Henry IV and his controversies business. Other huge exhibition To some extent this ambition has with pope Gregory VII, which ventures like the three Otto-ex- been successful. Today Paderborn ended in the barefooted penance hibitions in Magdeburg have felt is branded as a place where huge in the snowy mountains at Canos- the same declining lack of interest. and vastly interesting medieval sa, definitely had less appeal. In 2001 the first exhibition could exhibitions are mounted in state- of-the-art surroundings – the Diocesan Museum and the re- constructed Ottonian palace just behind the Cathedral. Known to be well curated and researched, some of the most precious objects in international collections have consistently been made available as loans to these exhibitions, rais- ing the expectations of any visi- tor; even those armed with only a slight foreknowledge will obvious- ly be able to derive pleasure from this ver well curated exhibition. However, starting with the exhibi- tion “Charlemagne 799”, which was seen by 311.287 visitors, the number to the Canossa exhibition fell to a 190.000. According to the organisers of the present exhibi- tion (CREDO 2013), 150.000 visitors are expected. Part of this reflects a widened supply. During 1991 – 2009 the number of mu- seums in Germany grew by 48% while the number of visits to cul- tural museums grew only by 16%. But part of the development prob- ably also reflects the choice of themes. While Charlemagne is 5 muster 300.000 visitors. The last exhibition might be. Compared exhibition in 2012 did not reach to the latest Otto-exhibition in SOURCES: even the 100.000 benchmark. Magdeburg, which had a budget of €3mill, the current exhibition So far, however, the organisers in Paderborn operates within a Christoph Stiegemann: in Paderborn have been satisfied budget of €7 mill. With a pro- “Ein Erlebnis von with the performance of CREDO jected number of visitors: 150.000 Gleichzeitig-keit“. Die 2013. Even though the exact num- and after subtracting the highest großen kunst- und kulturhis- ber of visitors has as yet not been possible income from the teller, torischen Mittelalterausstel- made available, the press office the expense is app. €5mill, most lungen in Paderborn seit tells us that the exhibition has of which have been paid by the 1999 zwischen Wissenschaft gone off to a flying start compared city of Paderborn and the The und Inszenierung. Paderborn to the Canossa exhibition in 2006. Westphalia-Lippe Regional As- 2010 More significant is the fact that sociation (LWL); all in all this may visitors are pouring in from not in a worst case scenario amount to Statisches Jahrbuch 2011. only the local region, but from all a “gift” to every visitor of app. €33. Kreis Paderborn 2012 of Germany as well as Benelux, France and Eastern Europe. Does this make sense? Yes, the organisers claim that any boost to Albrecht Steinecke: The theme of the CREDO exhibi- the business of tourism is worth Management und Marketing tion – what we believe and how we every Euro. In 2009 270.000 vis- im Kulturtourismus. Ba- all became Christians in view of ited the region of Paderborn. This siswissen – Praxisbeispiele – the combined missionary effort of generated a turnover of €78 Mill Checklisten, Wiesbaden 2012 Churches and Emperors - seems or the equivalent of €288 per trav- to have hit a raw nerve in the 21st eller. With just a minor growth “Was besichtigen wir mor- century characterised by the re- - 5-6 % or 15-20.000 - in the num- gen?” – Trends und Heraus- emergence of religious fervour ber of visitors to the city, the €5 forderungen im Kulturtour- amongst a growing segment of mill would surely be recouped in ismus. – In: Hausmann, A./ fundamentalists. the form of local business, jobs Murzik, L. (Hrsg.): Neue etc. In this crude estimate the fact Impulse im Kulturtourismus, The Economy that cultural travellers are known Wiesbaden 2011, S. 11-34 Added to these reflections it is to spend more freely, when travel- perhaps also worth mentioning ling, has not been taken into ac- the sound investment such an count. Organising an exhibition with a budget of £7 mill is big business. © Medieval Histories 6 Churchgoing in the 21st century? Visitors are listening to an introduction to the CREDO-exhibition © Diocese Museum in Paderbor Cultural Christians Europe in the 21st century is However, according to him this dominant modes of social action known as a highly secularised does not imply that economic - from churchgoing to consumer- part of the world where people prosperity in itself causes a direct ism.” According to Hirschle “the in general have dropped out of lessening of the existential anxiety increasing provision of secular their churches or at least dimin- of affluent Europeans.A declining goods and the expanded purchas- ished their engagement in official self-assessment of modern people ing power of households, indi- religion.