English spoken? The eternal mystery….
by Trekki
Marburg with its approx. 18.000 students, many of them from abroad, should be a town where English is spoken widely. But…. I found that this is quite a two-sided story. Many restaurants hire students as waiters and waitresses and this guarantees English menus and service in restaurants, pubs and cafes. Also attractions which are in the hands of special students groups of faculties have English services, like the Camera Obscura (by physics students) where you can download an English leaflet about the camera principle.. But anything that is in the hands or responsibility of “Marburg Tourism Marketing” lacks any other languages but German. Ok, admitted, there is a wee bit of English words on Marburg’s official website, but the guided tours or books and information material are not available in English. Most probably they wouldn’t even hire a student to take care of the foreign visitors. Also, websites of the several university’s disciplines are… mostly German only (except mineralogy).
This will stay an eternal mystery to me. Is the city not interested in presenting and showing their town to international visitors?? Or maybe it is that well-known phenomenon present throughout all Germany: anything that gets the suffix “marketing” will automatically loose the braincells responsible for common sense and transforms into a robot-like-borning-uniform “service” of the famous service desert Germany.
This is all even less understandable to me because every student has to read books and publications in English as well. I can only judge about science and medicine disciplines, where approx. 50-60% of our reading was English. Consequently, professors write articles in international magazines, secretaries and other staff communicate with international magazines – all in English! But no one seems to come to the point to translate their services and information into English. How should international students be able to find their way around? Are they supposed to be forced to speak German before they ever think of inscribing??
Hello, Marburg – where are your English skills???????
Local Festivities in Marburg
by Trekki
Marburg has a lot of festivities during the year, due to the big influence of the university parts. If you plan a visit to Marburg, and are flexible with the timing, why not consider to go during one of the most important events ?
Town Festival:
This is being held every second weekend in July for 3 days. It's all over town with food- and beer stalls everywhere. Also live music is played. Check the city website some time in advance for details. Well worth a visit.
Weidenhäuser Entenrennen and Höfefest:
Haha, what a name for non German speakers! This is more of a local and traditional festival. Entenrennen means duck race, Höfe-fest means yard festival. It is being held in Weidenhausen, one of Marburg’s quarters (east of the old university) usually in September. Surely worth a visit, because as with all German festivals and parties which involve houses’ yards, this adds to a special atmosphere of celebrating old traditions.
Elisabeth Fair:
Held every second weekend in October. It is a typical German fair with merry-go-rounds, carousels, and food- and beer stalls. It is around Elisabeth Church and Market Place. Shops are open on Sundays during this fair. Definitely worth a visit.
Handicraft Market:
Held every 1st weekend in November, in Marburg’s town hall in Biegenstrasse. Well worth a visit.
Christmas Market:
Like all Christmas markets in Germany, held from the weekend of 1st Advent on for 4 weeks. In Marburg, it is around Elisabeth Church and Market Place. It was always definitely worth a visit, because you can find and buy more nice craftwork than on the usual Christmas markets (not only typical crap). Mulled wine stalls included, of course!
Freshmen's Party:
Each first week per academic year, the students' association celebrates their famous freshmen's party, which is open to everyone who would like to come and party. Definitely worth a visit – be sure, Marburg's students do know quite well how to party. (Haha, I already picture a certain Ritchie and a certain D coming for this party – lol).
I wrote this tip in September 2006, but have exchanged photos and revamped the text (April 2009).
Fachwerk - Timberframe Architecture
by Kathrin_E
Marburg's old town has half-timbered houses from the 14th to the 19th century. A few general observations help to see the differences in construction and style throughout the centuries.
The oldest houses from the middle ages are those that have long timbers that extend over the full height of the facade. These are rare (photo 1 and 2).
Later on, the construction was built from shorter timbers, storey by storey. Each storey protrudes a bit further, both to enlarge the ground and for reasons of statics. This style was used in the 16th and 17th century, thus is not medieval any more (photos 3 and 4).
18th and early 19th century half-timbered houses had flat facades which were covered in plaster to make them look like stone buildings.
The later 19th century rediscovered the 'medieval' style. 19th century houses can be recognized by elaborate, colourful and often exaggerated ornamentation (photo 5). These are often the ones visitors will find most beautiful.
Sophie of Brabant, founder of state of Hesse
by Trekki
The best in life is that one never stops learning. I had this “oh” effect again when I saw the statue at the edge of Marburg’s market place: a woman holding a baby into the air. Now at school I was never really interested in history so this woman did not mean much to me, no matter how deep I searched my poor history memory. But what I found out during researching www is that she was a very important woman, without her brave actions, state of Hesse would maybe never have been founded. I won’t go into epic depth about this complicated story, because the story of Henry I, landgrave of Hesse is described in Wikipedia. Only in brief: it was one of these typical situations where one ruler died without heir and the succession situation was a bit complicated. Sophie, daughter of St. Elisabeth of Thuringia, was married to the duke of Brabant and had a son, Henry (the kid or baby of Brabant), born 1244. Sophie claimed her son to be the future landgrave of the territories when he was 3 years old – holding him into the air to have the township people paying him hommage, and finally, in 1292, he became landgrave. The statue is very much elaborate in its work. It was donated to the city in end of 1989 (that’s why I never saw it because I finished my studies at the university in May 1989) and was made by sculptor Ivan Theimer. At her feet a little ape holds an image of Marburg (note that the relief at the city hall also includes this little ape, but I don’t have any idea what the ape stands for). The basement has eight niches with allegoric scenes about the good and the bad struggling with each other and the result that both, good and bad end with death, no matter if they are good or bad. Well… this leaves room for many thoughts and philosophies abut life in general, the greed and the arrogant…
Blind People in Marburg
by Kathrin_E
You will notice a lot of blind people in the streets of Marburg, many of whom move around on their own with remarkable confidence. Marburg is the seat of Deutsche Blindenstudienanstalt, a school and study centre for the visually impaired. The university is equipped to support visually impaired students and enables them to get a university degree like everyone else. Many of them stay in Marburg after finishing their education because they know the town and find their way.
If you hear the tack-tack-tack sound of a white stick on the pavement, jump aside. These guys and gals know perfectly well where steady obstacles like lantern posts, stairs, houses are and move with enormous speed. Mobile obstacles, like you, better move out of their way...
Everyone in town is used to dealing with blind people. Sometimes one has to warn them when they run towards a puddle or a big pile of dog droppings, or pick one up who has lost his way in the middle of a busy street.
About all pedestrian traffic lights in town have acoustic signals that change sound when the traffic light turns from red to green and from green to red.
Next to Elisabethkirche and in market square small bronze models of the surrounding architecture have been put up. They can be explored with the hands. Explanations are given in both Braille and normal scripture.
market square
Rudolphsplatz from Biegenstraße
Rudolphsplatz to Universitätsstraße
Marburger Dippche - local pottery
