Yesterday we headed off to Stuttgart with my German class for an excursion. Since we've been in Tübingen for all of 10 days, we were itching to move around some more. Kidding! But Stuttgart was great.

We started off in the Haus der Geschichte for Baden-Württemberg. Normally, such history museums are pretty standard: start off with early or pre-history, then have some random historical exhibits, followed by some lousy art which no one really wanted to put in a real museum. But this one is a pretty different story. Shall we just say that this Bundesland is LOADED, and so has spent more money on their museum (which opened in 2003) than any other region I've ever seen?! At the entrance, there's a fabulous map of the region that lights up as you step on it, allowing you to highlight the areas of interest to you as you jump around on the map. The tour through the museum then continues with Napoleon (alliances), poverty post-Napoleon, emigration to the US (numbers in the millions!) in the early and mid-19th century, Württemberg soldiers in the Civil War, consolidation into one country in 1871 (although for some reason that seemed pretty downplayed...), World War I, post-WWII devastation and rebuilding, and so on. The exhibits were excellent--for instance, in the section on the 1848 revolution, the floor tiles are actually loose to give the visitor a feeling of uncertainty! On the final floor there was a series of thematic exhibits showing immigration to BW, how BW despite its lack of natural resources has used inventiveness to get ahead (long exhibit on companies no one has ever heard of, but I'm sure they're making tons of money!), and so on. Most interesting to us was a section on BW thinkers. Lots of Ernst Bloch, including a first edition of Prinzip der Hoffnung. Fascinating stuff belonging to Jaspers, including the letter removing him from his teaching position (sending him into Ruhestand) because he was married to a Jew. Not coincidentally, I think, displayed right next to Heidegger's things. His letter accepting the rectorship of Freiburg. A first edition of the speech he gave when he accepted the position--the one where he famously says that a university must find its own identity and essence in order to adequately support the Nazi state. The letter where he resigns his position the next year. A heil Hitler signature. And, most interestingly, the academic garments he continued to wear at formal functions, signifying his position in the philosophy department, even long after he was removed from teaching after the war. There were also some of Gadamer's belongings, as well as a picture of him and Heidegger together at some elite seminar in Heidelberg. So a little candy shop for philosophy/theology types!

Next we headed out to find some Schwäbisches food. Having filled up on cheese, cream, and white flour (for vegetarians, Schwäbisches Essen is kind of monotonous!), we headed to the Stiftskirche, which was renovated in 2003. Although there has been some kind of church there since at least about 1170, there's little left of the original structure. (Among other things, almost the entire church was bombed during WWII, when 80% of Stuttgart was destroyed as it was an industrial center. A very interesting speech by Helmut Thielicke, the famous German theologian, is on display, where he talks about how much the church has meant to the community and reflects on what God may be trying to teach by allowing the church to be destroyed.) The current structure is stunningly elegant and well-proportioned, one of the most successful mixes of the traditional and modern that I've seen. The cool stone structure is traditional, but the stained-glass windows are (except in the front) kept in gray-green-blue tones to emphasize the starkness of their portrayals of the biblical figures, including a fantastic resurrection/ascention/Christ triumphant. The ceiling is decorated with steel-colored metal kind of stars: difficult to describe, but very effective. The gray pews and organ complete the effect. Absolutely a demonstration of the fact that Protestant churches can be as aesthetically effective and meaningful as any other kind.

Then we headed back to the Staatsgalerie. We had wanted as usual to peruse the collection of older art, but it is currently closed to the public as that section of the building is being restored. The new section, the postmodern building by the English architect James Stirling, was impressive enough on its own, however. The museum has the single most complete collection of Max Beckmann that I have ever seen, including a fabulous juxtaposition of his Auferstehung (resurrection) of 1909 with one from 1916. Most fascinating was perhaps Joseph Beuys' Crucifixion (see this link for an image), where Christ is represented (or absented) by a hanging needle. There were too many other treasures to mention, and by the time we got there we were tired enough that it was clear we will have to return repeatedly to give the collection our full attention.

Our final stop was the Mercedes-Benz museum near the Stuttgart soccer stadium. It is certainly a massive advertising success. Seven plus stories of Mercedes mythology. You are met at the entrance by sharp-suited executive-looking types who have clipboards with information about the day's groups. The free audio guide automatically picks up on your entrance into a new room, and starts describing the collection. The cars are absolutely the shiniest, most gorgeous things you have ever seen, but it gets a bit overloaded after a while. I mean, this is advertising! I can only get so excited... especially when the historical-contextual exhibits make sure to mention that the factories were damaged during WWII, but make no mention whatsoever about why that might be the case. (The fact that the company was designing and producing tanks, for instance. And of course Hitler's cars are not included in the gallery of famous people's cars, although Arnie's is, along with the Papamobile.) But whatever. You even get to keep the fancy lanyard that your audio guide hangs from, so all in all I'd call it successful advertising!