A culture of creativity in Weimar, Germany
Overview of cultural life in Weimar, Germany.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: Weimar, a city that has long provided inspiration to artists. At one time it attracted the likes of Goethe and Schiller. Today, Weimar remains a city full of inspiration and a catalyst for creative people.
ALEX: "Welcome, my name is Alex and I'm from New York. My wife's name is xylophone. But you can call her marimba or marimbaphone if you like."
NARRATOR: Weimar drew him in as well. Alex, a musician from New York, he opted for Germany over the U.S., Weimar over Manhattan, and has yet to regret it.
ALEX: "I love to come here when it's nice out, when it's hot. I can play here in the shade in Weimar in the Schillerstrasse, with the museum in front of me. And I can make music flanked by Bach's soul, so to speak. I think the surroundings are beautiful, not just for music but in terms of the inner message that drives such culture."
NARRATOR: Weimar has a rhythm all its own. It is a city that offers space for its individualists. In the side alleyways in particular, the clocks seem to run differently than elsewhere. Here, much has persisted that has disappeared elsewhere. Manfred Pennewitz is a master engraver, one of the last remaining people in Germany versed in this art. All of his work is hand-crafted. He spurns the automated machinery now used by many of his colleagues. That's why he has been working on this wedding platter for clients from the high nobility for quite some time.
MANFRED PENNEWITZ: "This is for an aristocratic wedding. It contains all the relevant coats of arms for these families. They feel obliged to have them engraved on this platter. It is a particular thing, a very old tradition going back several centuries. It has nothing to do with modern times."
NARRATOR: But it isn't just nobility that holds his work in high esteem. Customers from all over Europe come to him, as Manfred Pennewitz is the only person who sells an exact replica of Goethe's wedding ring.
PENNEWITZ: "I just had a couple from Munich here. He proposed to her here in my shop. It was lovely. She was moved to tears and couldn't contain her joy or refrain from showing her love for her partner. That is of course a banner moment for an engraver."
NARRATOR: Weimar - with just 60,000 inhabitants and yet a bastion of world culture.
ALEX: "Welcome, my name is Alex and I'm from New York. My wife's name is xylophone. But you can call her marimba or marimbaphone if you like."
NARRATOR: Weimar drew him in as well. Alex, a musician from New York, he opted for Germany over the U.S., Weimar over Manhattan, and has yet to regret it.
ALEX: "I love to come here when it's nice out, when it's hot. I can play here in the shade in Weimar in the Schillerstrasse, with the museum in front of me. And I can make music flanked by Bach's soul, so to speak. I think the surroundings are beautiful, not just for music but in terms of the inner message that drives such culture."
NARRATOR: Weimar has a rhythm all its own. It is a city that offers space for its individualists. In the side alleyways in particular, the clocks seem to run differently than elsewhere. Here, much has persisted that has disappeared elsewhere. Manfred Pennewitz is a master engraver, one of the last remaining people in Germany versed in this art. All of his work is hand-crafted. He spurns the automated machinery now used by many of his colleagues. That's why he has been working on this wedding platter for clients from the high nobility for quite some time.
MANFRED PENNEWITZ: "This is for an aristocratic wedding. It contains all the relevant coats of arms for these families. They feel obliged to have them engraved on this platter. It is a particular thing, a very old tradition going back several centuries. It has nothing to do with modern times."
NARRATOR: But it isn't just nobility that holds his work in high esteem. Customers from all over Europe come to him, as Manfred Pennewitz is the only person who sells an exact replica of Goethe's wedding ring.
PENNEWITZ: "I just had a couple from Munich here. He proposed to her here in my shop. It was lovely. She was moved to tears and couldn't contain her joy or refrain from showing her love for her partner. That is of course a banner moment for an engraver."
NARRATOR: Weimar - with just 60,000 inhabitants and yet a bastion of world culture.