Kaiser Wilhelm in Bürresheim, Mayen and Maria Laach: a Protestant monarch as a patron of religious life and the preservation of monuments Although Kaiser Wilhelm II was the head of the Lutheran Church in Prussia, he also had a close and friendly relationship with the Benedictines, who returned to Maria Laach in 1892. He sponsored the restoration of the monastery, commissioned the mosaics and donated the imperial altar, a masterpiece of Wilhelmine art that has unfortunately not survived. On his five journeys through the Eifel, he also came to Bürresheim Castle and Mayen, where the poet Joseph Hilger celebrated him with patriotic poems. The lecture sheds light on some hitherto little-known aspects of the emperor's relationship with the Catholic Rhineland. Wolfgang Schmid, born in 1957, is an adjunct professor of regional history at the University of Trier and chief cultural organiser of the Eifelverein. He has dealt with the history and art history of the Greater Region in numerous lectures and publications. The lecture is part of the event series ‘Fiction and Truth at Bürresheim Castle’. It is supported by Kreissparkasse Mayen and Volksbank RheinAhrEifel eG.
Date: 13.06.2025, 18:00 hrs
Duration: approx. 50 min.
Costs: free of charge Registration: required at buerresheim(at)gdke.rlp.de or phone 02651 76440