Bremen is an old town, in fact, it is even not a town, but a “land”, completely autonomous. It was badly damaged during the last World War but despite the vast damages the town still retains a nice big harbour atmosphere and has a few sights worth visiting.
The main Town Square (Market Place, Markplatz) is relatively small. Dominating building there is – City Hall (Rathaus) – a pretty Renaissance style construction. Nearby is the life-sized bronze statue of the city’s most famous residents - the Bremen town musicians. It is believed that if you touch the hoof of the Donkey, it will bring you luck…Now…I wonder, why those hooves looked so polished, almost to gold?...hmmmm…(can’t wait to see when I will get my luck too?! ;-) )
The first sight of landmark that catches your eye is the stone statue of Knight Roland. It was erected in 1404 as a symbol of civic rights and independence. Nice looking man he is too…and very well preserved.
Basically, all of the famous sights in Bremen concentrated on that small Markplatz. Apart from listed above, there are also – early Gothic Cathedral of St. Petri and a parish church of Bremen – Unser Lieben Frauen(Our Dear Lady’s) Church. The main decoration of this church is modern – the result of great restoration work from 1960-ies…But the place, where the church stands, is the place where actually the first church of Bremen was erected shortly after year 1000…Of course it was not that impressive as Cathedral though. (Dom St. Petri)
This one dates back almost 1,200 years. Looks very impressive with the stern twin towers and surprisingly contrasting interior – like the fairy tale palace –decorations made in colours, stucco moulding takes your breath away with its beauty…Absolutely fantastic and unsuspected when you look at Cathedral from outside…
There is also the 100 metre pedestrian walkway (Böttcherstrasse) leading away from the market place and to the river- at one time it was inhabited by the town’s coopers and barrel makers, now it’s a pleasant passage converted into a Gothic Art Nouveau fantasy by local artists. The traditional red-brick architecture and more modern expressionist constructions offer pretty much contrasting sights.
So…we’ve explored both famous churches, (liked the big Cathedral, but disappointed in the other), we didn’t climb the cathedral tower, though there was this option. We also didn’t go to see some…mummies in the cathedral’s cellar, as you well know, I’ve seen enough of those in Egypt. The ones in Bremen’s Dom St. Petri said to be of those construction workers, who fell during the building works there and somehow has been miraculously preserved in the dryness of the stone room (?! – don’t ask me how, as I do not know myself). And so we didn’t see them anyway…We went to Bremen on Sunday and luckily enough Sunday was the day of the performance of the local Street Theatre! Sure enough the show was – about famous musicians. And of course it was in German (?!) Good thing, that I still remember what that tale was all about, so I was able to enjoy the performance almost as if I understood the language. The actors were brilliant and played to their best. Lots of dance, music and laughter – nice and kind tale to overall enjoyment…
After we’ve hang about the town center, we still had time to visit one more Bremen attraction, something completely different from the historical splendour. – The Science Museum of Bremen’s University – The Universum. But I think, I will leave this story for next time.