I started yesterday at the Museum der bildenden Kunste, the Museum of Fine Arts, in its huge 36 metre high glass cube at the north edge of the old Leipzig city centre. Inside the space is vast and simple, with exposed concrete walls and floor, and massive oak stairs and doors. Originally, the museum was founded in 1858 by merchants, bankers and publishers, and I think that all or most of the collection has been assembled by gifts and foundations.
Spread over four exhibition floors, contemporary galleries sit alongside 19th century and Romantic art. Occasionally they encroach on each other's space; it works. The Bühler-Brockhaus Donation, in its own gallery, has the feel of a personally assembled collection of 19th century paintings. There are galleries for 15th/16th century, 16th-18th century and Dutch / Flemish paintings.
And I ran out of time to visit the dedicated galleries for Leipziger Max Klinger as I had to get to the temporary exhibitions in the basement: Matthias Weischer 'Arbeiten auf Papier' and Ben Willikens 'Der Raum als Bild', both of which I really liked. Willikens 2010-2011 paintings especially: huge almost monochrome graphic canvases.
After two and a quarter hours I retired to the enormous cafe for an expensive €4.00 pot of tea; but properly made with the tea leaves held in the pot in a removable mesh. Then a 5 minute walk to the station to buy my ticket for the half hour train journey to Halle.
Walked the 1km into Halle city centre along the pedestrianised streets – been here before so no problem knowing where to go – and went straight to the Tourist Office to collect my pre-booked ticket for a 3:00pm tour of the Haussmansturm, one of the towers of the super Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen (see the Grand Tour website for details!). Sat outside to eat my lunchtime bun, then into the church where I was shown Martin Luther's gruesome death mask by the nice man on duty.
The tour of the tower was in German, but the guide kindly gave me a potted version in English. Interesting information about Halle's history, and good views with plenty of photos from the top. By the time I came down the Saturday market had cleared and I could get some photos of the church with a clear foreground.
Then round the corner to Handel's birthplace in the much refurbished Händelhaus. The exhibition was larger than I'd expected and gave a good account of Handel's professional life - his private life being notoriously secret - though since he left Halle as a young man there's not a lot of material to display, and much of it is contemporary pictures of relevant people and places. But interesting information none the less.
Finally a trudge back to the station for the journey home, a later-than-normal dinner and a well-earned beer.
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