Author: artmatters

Opera Singer with a love for photography among other things. A true European, of Scottish and German descent, she grew up in Belgium before studying and working in Cardiff and London. Now living in Germany.
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King Ludwig II ‘s summer hut : Königshaus am Schachen

Königshaus am Schachen

When my friend Anna suggested going to the Königshaus am Schachen, I first had to research what she was talking about. The Königshaus am Schachen is a hut, a chalet built for King Ludwig II around 1870, up at 1866m South of Garmisch Partenkirchen in the Wetterstein mountains. It is a small but well worth seeing hut, where King Ludwig celebrated his birthday and name day on several occasions.

The Hike

The route we took started in the Elmau Wanderparkplatz, at about 1000m. It costs a few euros to park there, but it is a great starting point. The path goes steadily up, is well indicated and is known as the Königsweg. King Ludwig II didn’t walk up to his summer hut, he was taken up there on his horse carriage. The path is wide enough, first going along the small river and then leaving it below while going up. Quite quickly one gets to see the mountains above. About halfway up one gets to the Wettersteinalm, a shielding looking on to a wonderful mountain wall.

From there the path is a little narrower and very windy, still, it remains surrounded by gorgeous trees., and if you look there are some beautiful mushrooms too.

Ludwig II’s Schachen-house

Then suddenly comes our first view on the Schachen hut, accompanied by the gorgeous mountainside on our left. The trees become a little more sparse from here. The view over to the hut in this most incredible surrounding is well worth it. Getting to the hut from there is easy even if it is still a bit of a walk.

One can stay over in the nearby hut, which used to be the kitchen and the servants quarters for the king. We, however, didn’t as we had to get back that same day.

The visit to the Schachen is truly worth it. A guided tour is planned every hour and lasts about half an hour. The ground floor is rather simple, with 4 small rooms, living- dining- bed- and guest-room. The highlight, however, is above: a true Jem! One is totally amazed and surprised after walking up a tiny windy staircase to discover it: the Turkish Room! All is original here, the fountain in the middle of the room, the chandelier, the decor, the cushions, and so on. It is breathtaking!!! King Ludwig II was very precise in what he wanted. The first version of the room didn’t please him and so had to be fully redone. What we see here is what he longed for… a 1001 night dream of a room!

Some more tips

When coming out of the hut, do go and see King Ludwig’s favourite viewpoint. Also worth it, although we didn’t see it because it was shut, is the alpine botanical garden.

Going back down is following the same route as coming up. The walk up is rather long, so for inexperienced hikers do take that point under consideration. We took about 3 1/2 hours going up, and only 2 hours going down because of having to run due to a storm and heavy rains. I do not recommend running down as we did, so remember to check the weather forecast before you go on the hike and to start it early enough to fully enjoy the gorgeous views.

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Back to the future and Nicholas Nixon

Back to the future C|O Berlin

On a grey afternoon whilst in Berlin, I decided spontaneously to walk in the Amerika House, now an exhibition space for the C|O Berlin foundation near the Zoologischer Garten station. It is my first visit here, but surely not my last.

„Back to the Future.“

I started with the ground floor, „Back to the Future. The 19th Century in the 21st Century.“: an exhibition about the beginnings of photography and its experiments with exposure, chemical reactions in connection with nature, natural elements and its continued fascination on actual artists. Whether it is Anna Atkins‘ influence or Warren de la Rue’s, it is quite extraordinary how nature, flora, light, earth, moon keeps on fascinating. I enjoyed taking the time to read the information panels. The contents are most interesting and the texts are set discretely, with a nice sized print.

“A retrospective of Nicholas Nixon.”

The second show was totally different: a retrospective show of Nicholas Nixon’s work. Nicholas Nixon is an American photographer known in parts for his series of the Brown sisters. A series of portraits of the 4 sisters, one of which is his wife. They are always posing in the same order, but not in the same way. Nixon photographed them once a year for 42 years.

The retrospective, however, starts with his beginnings, the „New Topographics“ series, the „City Views“ series and later goes on to other most moving portraits series. I have to say this show left me very moved. His constant search for closeness in his portraits whether in his series „couples“, „aids“ or „elderly“ was almost too much for me. By saying this, I mean it touched a nerve in me, which I don’t always have the strength to have opened. The distance I needed was not there, but that confrontation is what Richard Nixon wanted. In a short video at the end of the show, he explains this clearly.

I can strongly recommend theses exhibitions, they are moving and strong. Congratulations to the C|O Berlin foundation and the curators. I came out feeling inspired and emotionally taken in, and that is not always the case.