Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: Bade-Wurtemberg

In the Pfahlbaumuseum in Unteruhldingen, pile dwellings from the Stone and Bronze Age (4,000 to 850 B.C.) come back to life in reconstructions. The museum provides an insight into the mysterious world of farmers, fishermen and bronze casters from prehistoric times. About 6,000 years ago, the first farmers settled by the lakes around the Alps. They often built their villages directly on the water. By putting their houses on stilts, they had protection against damp soil and flooding. The important water, the fishing and a safe and convenient location on the major trade routes were probably reasons to settle here. It was not until the end of the Bronze Age (850 B.C.) that climate change forced them back to the higher regions of thee inland. Since then, the remains of the sunken villages have been well protected in the lakes. Completely isolated from the air, the soil also contains organic remains that would otherwise have been rotten on land for a long time. Numerous finds allow an accurate reconstruction of the houses. During intensive underwater excavations, divers were able to store numerous objects: tools, bones, textiles and even the remains of meals. Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen is one of Europe’s largest archaelogical open-air museums. It shows more than twenty reconstructed pile dwellings and replicas and original findings from excavations.

Sigmaringen Castle ( Schloss Sigmaringen or Hohenzollernschloss ) is standing on a cliff high above the city and the Danube. Originally built as a fortress it has been transformed into a residential palace. With its 450 rooms it is Germany’s second largest palece. The original fortress at Sigmaringen was first mentioned in 1077, but the earliest construction, still visible today, dates back to the 12th century. The oldest parts of the original castle and fortress are hidden beneath the alterations and rebuilding that took place between the 17th and 19th century. Sigmaringen Castle was almost completely destroyed by a devastating fire in 1893 and had to be rebuilt. Destructions and constructions continued to take place up until 1902. Sigmaringen Castle has been the home of the Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern family since 1535. For hundreds of years the European aristocracy met at the castle and the family of Hohenzollern still owns the castle today. The palace can be visited by a guided tour. (We did not visit the castle, but only looked at the exterior from two points. First from a hill with the Josefskapelle – PiP3 - and later from the bank of the Danube - main picture and PiP 1 and 2.)

The Blautopf (Blau= Blue / topf=pot) is considered being Germany’s most beautiful karst spring. It is famous for its strikingly beautiful water colour, which is the result of the reflection of the light. All long-wave colours are absorbed, whereas the short-wave blue is reflected and thus becomes visible. This ‘Blue Pot’ is the spring of the river Blau, which flows after almost 15 km in the Danube in the city of Ulm. Because of its high water pressure, the spring has developed a funnel-like shape, which at its deepest point has a depth of 22 meters. Every now and then, the spring ‘boils over’, gushing out 32.000 liters/second, much more than the average of 2.300 liters/second. At the Blautopf is a hammermill, which is fed by the water of the spring. The church belongs to the former Benedictine monastery in Blaubeuren.

Neresheim Abbey - officially Abbey of Saints Ulrich and Afra - was founded in 1095 as a house of (secular) Augustinian Canons, and converted to a Benedictine monastery in 1106. The abbey complex is situated on a hill, overlooking the town of Neresheim. In the 13th century, the abbey owned seven villages and it had an income from a further 71 places in the area. Ten parish churches were incorporated. During wars and conflicts the monastery was destroyed several times. In 1802 the monastery was secularized. In the year of 1810 the abbey was annexed by the Kingdom of Würtemmberg. In 1919 the abbey was resettled by Benedictines from Beuron Archabbey; nowadays the abby is still part of the Benedictine congregation of Beuron. Originally the monastery had a roman basilica, but in 1695 it was transformed to a baroque church. After much internal debate, in 1745, the decision was taken to build a new abbey church. It was built between 1747 and 1792 from plans by the famous architect Balthasar Neumann. After his death (1753) his disciples and followers continued his work. It is considered being a masterpiece of European baroque. The domes were frescoed by Austrian painter Martin Knoller from Austria during six summers (1770-75). They show Jesus Christ in the centre surrounded by scenes from his life. In 1966 the domes had become in danger of collapse and the building had to be closed. During a nine years lasting restoration this wonderful work of faith and art could be saved and conserved. There are still monks loving and working in the monastery. It has also a bookshop and a restaurant for visitors. The monks run a conference centre. If you like a monastic kind of a stay there is also a guesthouse.

Flower island Mainau in Lake Constance is all year/all weather destination. We visited early September and were ‘lucky’ finding the summer flowers and decorations still in bloom. But we were really surprised by the explosion of colours in the Dahlia garden. One slope of the island was full of flowerbeds with blooming dahlias, varying in height and colour. I did read there were about 250 different species with a total number of plants of more than 12.000. Dahlias have originated in Mexiko and Guatemala. In 1790, the director of the botanic garden of Mexico-City, sent dahlias to Madrid. Since then many different sorts of dahlias have spread to gardens in Europe and the rest of the world. Dahlias have come to Europe's gardens not too long ago, but nonetheless, there is a certain tradition in the dahlia blossom on Mainau for about 60 years now. More info/pictures of Mainau: www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/48482522

Mainau - the flower island - had many owners before it was bought in 1853 by Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden as a personal property. He is considered being the park founder. He not only built a summer residence, but began to create order on the island to redesign it and plant rare exotic trees and plants, which he brought back from his travels. In the 1930, Prince Wilhelm (then the island's owner) turned the administration of Mainau over to his son, the Swedish Prince Lennart Bernadotte II. The prince, who had renounced his Swedish royal lineage after marrying a commoner, devoted the rest of his life to turning the island into a privately-operated park. Mainau is now maintained by a foundation that the prince and his second wife established. The island's manager is their daughter, Countess Bettina Bernadotte and their son, Count Björn Bernadotte, manages the foundation. The Bernadotte family still lives in the castle on the island. Mainau - with 45 hectare the third largest island in Lake Constance - has a kind of micro Mediterranean climate. Nowadays it offers the beauty of impressive and colourful themed gardens ( for instance a Rhododendron slope, Italian Rose garden and Dahlia garden - www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/48516738 ) and a very interesting park-like arboretum with 500 different species. A greenhouse has a tropical climate and houses thousands of butterflies. The flower island is the main attraction of Lake Constance and attracts a lot more than a million visitors each year. Although not the main reason for visiting, parts of the 18th century castle (large PiP ) are open to the public.