Celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach features the special exhibition, "Luther and the Germans." It explores the relationship between Luther and his region.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Reichel
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Rebel or ruffian: Who was Martin Luther?
The identity of the Protestant reformer is multifaceted to say the least. The exhibition "Luther and the Germans" at the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach explores who he was.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Luther with hammer and nails
Did Luther really nail his 95 theses to the main door of the Wittenberg Castle church? Reformation historians are still discussing this point 500 years later. In fact, Luther himself never mentioned the theses. Belgian historical painter Ferdinand Pauwels didn't seem to care - he painted Luther with hammer and nails anyway.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
The holy letter of warning that went up in flames
"Exsurge Domine" ("Arise, Oh Lord") was a papal bull written by Leo X on June 15, 1520. In it, he asked Martin Luther to recant what he had written in his 95 theses, or else face expulsion from the church. The reformer would not back down and burned the paper in an act of protest.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Endig
Each period in history depicted Luther differently
Hero or ruffian? The German image of Martin Luther has changed throughout history depending on the political climate. The Nazis, as well as the communist East German regime, used the reformer to suit their own purposes. This memorial, erected in 1895 in Eisenach, recalls Luther's time at the Wartburg Castle. There, he translated the New Testament of the Bible into German in only 10 weeks.
Image: picture-alliance/ZB
Luther in hell
The religious divisions from the 16th to 18th centuries affected artists as well. The Protestant artwork of Lucas Cranach, the Elder, placed the pope with lewd figures. The Catholic side countered, for example, with Egbert II van Heemskerck's painting "Luther in Hell." The reformer seems to be surrounded with eerie monsters, hellish demons and devils at the entrance to hell.
Image: Internationales Museum der Reformation, Genf
Expulsion from the Garden of Eden
Adam and Eve are depicted eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Written about in Christian teachings, this "sinful" topic was taken up not only by theologians, philosophers and worshipers, but also by artists. This baptismal bowl from the first half of the 16th century is one of the highlights of the exhibition in Wartburg.
Image: Wartburg- Stiftung Eisenach, Kunstsammlung
Jesus and the children
Lucas Cranach, the Elder (1472-1553), was not only a well-known painter of the German Renaissance. He was also a painter of the Reformation and a good friend of Martin Luther's The artistic entrepreneur had a workshop for painting and graphic printing in Wittenberg. In this picture, he depicts Jesus Christ with a group of women who are holding their children up to him to be blessed.
Image: Angermuseum Erfurt
Luther: The face of the Reformation
Lucas Cranach painted "Bildnis des Hans Luther" (Luther's father) in 1527. Many portraits of the reformer came from his studio. Today, they are regarded as masterpieces of art history. In these depictions, Luther sometimes resembles a rigid monk, or as his bearded alias "Junker Jörg," or again as a scholar. Regardless of how he was depicted, Cranach's paintings gave a face to the Reformation.
Image: Wartburg-Stiftung Eisenach, Kunstsammlung
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Who was Martin Luther and how is he portrayed today? This exhibition provides answers by exploring Luther's role as a national symbol of Germany and at the same time, a symbolic figure whom German history has instrumentalized throughout the years.
Five-hundred years after nailing his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, the exhibition presents the concept that every period in German history created its own image of Luther. "For some, he was a German prophet, a liberator, a hero, a founding father of national identity, and for others he was a choleric ruffian, a shaman and a separatist," says curator Marc Höchner.
A Martin Luther memorial statue in EislebenImage: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Schmidt
The show is separated into three major themes. The first focuses on Luther's city of Wartburg. The second explores the cultural and intellectual history of Luther's Protestant doctrine.
The final part of the exhibition demonstrates how the Protestant Reformation was used a political instrument throughout the ages, whether to promote freedom or servitude.
Luther translated the Bible behind thick walls
The Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, which receives over 350,000 visitors per year, is perhaps the most popular place in the world to commemorate Luther. However, it is also an important historical site. For almost a year, the thick walls of this castle protected the reformer as he translated the Bible into German.
At that point, his writings had already been banned and he was an outlaw after the passing of the Edict of Worms in 1512. In translating the Bible, he laid the foundation for the German language.
A room in the exhibition "Luther and the Germans" Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Arifoto Ug/M. Reichel
The exhibition aims to show how competition between Protestant and Catholic beliefs led to the 30 Years' War (1618-1648).
Afterwards, Luther was gradually removed from theology and instead celebrated as the creator of the German language, responsible for uniting Germans.
Portrayed as a revolutionary by the German Democratic Republic
During the wars against Napoleon, and subsequently during the Wartburg Festival of 1817, Luther was portrayed as a hero fighting for freedom. During the German Empire he was painted as the archetype of a German national hero. The same was true during the First World War.
Later, he was used as justification for the anti-Semitism of the National Socialists. Even leaders of the atheist German Democratic Republic portrayed him as the initiator of a bourgeois revolution in 1983.
A 475-year-old Bible in the Wartburg exhibitionImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Schmidt
The exhibition spans more than 1,000 square meters. Over 300 items are on display, from paintings and printed works to sculptures, texts and everyday items that show how Luther historians conduct their research.
The archive of Saxony leant an important document to the collection: a hand-written papal decree from 1520 threatening Luther with excommunication. In response, Luther burned the letter publicly.
A comprehensive catalog accompanies the exhibition, which encompasses two additional special exhibitions: "The Luther Effect: Protestantism - 500 Years in the World" in Berlin's German History Museum, as well as "Luther! 95 Treasures - 95 people" in Wittenberg.
