I promised a couple of weeks ago to get back with more info about that missing tower that I said should have been in the “postcard shot” of the Neckar River in Tübingen.
Well, today you’re in luck, because the other day I was walking by, and the sun was shining, and I was able to stop on the bridge (the vantage point for the “postcard” shot) and get a photo with the tower clearly visible:
"Postcard" shot of Tübingen; the Hölderlin Tower is the yellow tower at the far end
Here’s a view of the tower from a different angle:
View of the Hölderlin Tower
It’s called the Hölderlin Tower because the German lyric poet Friedrich Hölderlin lived in that tower for 36 years, from 1807 until his death in 1846. He was effectively imprisoned there. He’d been pronounced incurably insane after spending a year in a mental hospital in Tübingen, and apparently if you were found to be uncurable, you couldn’t stay at the mental hospital anymore. So, the family that owned the tower took him in in 1807 and looked after him for the rest of his life.
We’ve walked right up to the tower, but it’s unphotogenic when you get up that close, oddly enough. I think the reflection and the other buildings somehow make it more unique than when you see it from the side. Anyway, there’s a museum inside that’s open some of the time, but I don’t quite know what they have in there. If it’s all in German, I’ll have to wait a little before I tackle German lyric poetry, I think.
In the meantime, enjoy your view of the Hölderlin Tower.
Wonder why the tower is named for the poet since he was insane. I thought the tower was erected in the middle ages, long before the poet or do I have the wrong tower.
beautiful photos. I love the post cardy one. If you look in the horizen you can see purple with a yellow outline of the dark blue sky. These colors are amazing in the sky. I will have to see if I can find a translation of his poems. I have an afinity toward the incurably insane. 😉