Old Continental TownsGallichan, Walter M. (Walter Matthew)
History
Old Continental Towns
Gallichan, Walter M. (Walter Matthew)
Cities and towns -- Europe; Europe -- Description and travel
Such architectural details as remain are of great interest. The chief
gateway has parts of the old portcullis; there are some statues of the
sixteenth century, and a triumphal arch. From whatever point of view the
Castle of Heidelberg is seen, it is a striking red pile, proudly
dominating the surrounding country, and overshadowing the Neckar.
A part of the castle is known as the English Palace. Here lived
Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I. and grand-daughter of Mary Queen
of Scots, who was united to the Elector Frederick V. This palace was
built in 1607, and the garden was made about this time for the enjoyment
of the young bride.
The celebrated great Tun of Heidelberg is in one of the cellars of the
castle. This prodigious cask was originally made in the fourteenth
century, and contained twenty-one pipes of Rhenish wine. A second tun
was constructed in 1664, and this held six hundred hogsheads. The French
emptied this, and demolished it. A third cask was made to hold eight
hundred hogsheads, and when filled, the citizens held a dance upon a
stage erected on its top.
Viewed as a work of architecture, the University is not an inspiring
structure. It stands in a small square about the middle of the town. In
the library are missals and a large collection of books. Attached are
the botanic gardens of the college. The vandal Tully, during his
campaign, ravaged the university, and destroyed a number of valuable
volumes and manuscripts.
One of the greatest names associated with the University of Heidelberg
is the philosopher George Frederick William Hegel, born in 1770. He was
a native of Stuttgart, and at eighteen years of age he entered the
University of Tübingen. There Hegel met Schelling, for whom he had a
deep admiration. After a time of struggle as a tutor, the philosopher
came to Heidelberg, in 1816, as professor. His theses do not seem to
have attracted the students of that date, for we read that only four
persons attended his opening courses of lectures.
Hegel found time during two years in Heidelberg to write a part of his
"Encylopædia of Philosophical Science," a great work, which obtained
for the author a chair at the University of Berlin, where he lectured
for about thirteen years. He died of cholera, in 1831, at the age of
sixty-one.
Another illustrious man of Heidelberg was the poet Viktor Von Scheffel,
to whose memory a monument stands in the terrace of the castle.
The castle and the university are the two historic buildings in
Heidelberg that attract the traveller. One does not easily tire of the
view from the hill three hundred feet above the ruins of the castle, nor
of the beauties of the environs, and the banks of the Neckar.
The city is made cheerful by its law and medical students, who drink
their lager beer with gusto, sing their staves, and keep up the old
university traditions and customs. There are bright clean streets, and
many shops that prosper through the college and the host of summer
visitors.
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