2017-08-18

【Aiden in English】

        On the previous Danube Viking Cruise, mom and I visited many castles and palaces from the Romanesque to Gothic styles. Every other day or so, a new king or rich family would be brought up during the tour, each with another empire and each with a pool of wealth. Usually, they built castles, and most of these aristocrats were German. That is why Germany's countryside is commonly known as a fairy tale. It should more accurately be called piles of money.

        Ludwig II was a rare king with a rare interest in wasting lots of money on castles. Most kings used to pass down structures from their ancestors. However, on rare occasions, more common in Germany, once a king decided to build a castle, it's unbelievably expensive, using gold like bricks and diamond-like paint. This trip today was NOT going to be of a king's palace, which can be assumed that by no means it had diamonds burning as fuel in the fireplace. Nevertheless, money still went to someone's pocket, and the money belonged to Clemens August, the owner of the castle, hence the name Augustusburg. Unlike some architects, this 18th-century lavish residence did an excellent job without using the finest quality items. Not saying that Italian glass or Chinese porcelain wasn't the quality, but once again, there wasn’t gold asking to be stolen.

        Like every other castle in Europe, Augustusburg is just simply displaying power and wealth. And although it wasn't the highest-ranking person of the country, Clemens August was a Prince-Archbishop of Cologne, and only the emperor and the pope ranked above him. Our tour was of his Augustusburg and Falkenlust Hunting Lodge in Brühl, a wonderful pile of money. He didn't live in this lavish palace. It was only for receptions of a large event like hunting. People say this is why there is America: France lost the French and Indian War because its rich were too busy paying for large houses, which led America down the road of freedom.

        Augustusburg, from the outside, looked like an 18th-century ordinary mansion. The guide thoroughly stressed the interior was the highlight of many extravagantly Rococo rooms and chambers as well as splendid Baroque gardens lined with hedgerows and trees. I understand, but it's interesting to see a man with this much money not spend more of it on a stunning entrance... and then I saw the interior.

        The palace followed a lot of Asian decor motifs, like porcelain design and Chinese drawings. Furthermore, an overall theme of flowing was established early on and continued throughout the entire house. The edges to ceilings, doorways, and windows displayed a very curvy outline, elegant and stylistic German Rococo. From room to room, each a little cube next to another cube, we went around and around in circles. I believed the entire house was going to be little cubes in an overall larger cube. But soon, we ran into a much, much larger room. The grand staircase was the spotlight of the tour, decorated by marble-like floors and pillars, as well as a beautiful staircase of simplicity. The walls were flashed in different emblems and engraved pieces of art, as well as stone statues symbolizing goals in life. An intriguing point of a statue was that one stone bust depicting a child represented modesty. The only modest thing about this home was the servant quarters. At the top of the stairs, a person staring up at the ceiling would find a masterful painting of the ceiling, portrayed as if there was a dome. It fooled me. The scene was of a heavenly paradise, with angels playing trumpets in the clouds. To all visitors climbing up the marble steps, it certainly felt like Ascension. 

        Eventually, after another round of the second floor surrounding the staircase, we're led down via the secret Servant's Hall, now not so secret. Upon exiting, I realized how times have changed. To get a message out nowadays, there's Twitter, even for more formal people. Back then, you had to have an enormous and beautiful house to symbolize power. Regardless, both times show wealth spent in questionable ways.

【紅霞譯文】

        在剛剛結束的維京遊輪多瑙河航線中，我參觀過很多帶有羅馬式和哥特式遺風的城堡宮殿，幾乎每兩天新的一波帝王將相便被納入旅行日程上來，既然一朝天子一朝臣，那麼新政國君自然是萬貫家私。一般情況下，他們致力於打造城堡，而這些皇親貴族又多為日爾曼人，因此德國鄉間常被視為童話王國，更準確地說當該稱作“聚寶盆”才對。

        路德維希二世標新立異，對斥資修築城堡情有獨鍾，絕大多數國王慣於沿襲祖輩流傳下來的建築特徵，但不排除極少數個例。在德國，一旦國王決定建造城堡，那麼用黃金作磚鑽石當漆相當普遍，因此個個價值連城。今天我們要去的不是王宮，何況從未有人把那兒當成燒錢之地，世上總歸有人財大氣粗，而克萊門·奧古斯特確實腰纏萬貫，即城堡的主人，奧古特斯堡由此得名。不像某些建築，本處十八世紀豪華私宅之所以輝煌並非因為使用別致的陳設，這裡絲毫沒有貶低意大利玻璃與中國陶瓷之意，只怪黃金不再屬於搶眼的貨色。

        如同歐洲其它各個城堡，奧古斯特堡本來就是權力與財富的象徵，儘管克萊門·奧古斯特算不上國家頭等要人，但身為科隆大主教富可敵國，況且只有國王和教皇凌駕於他的地位之上。我們出遊的目的地奧古斯特堡及獵趣園位於布呂爾鎮，是一個有錢任性的絕佳去處。當時大主教根本不住在如此奢華的宮殿裡，該城堡僅用來舉辦諸如狩獵之類的大型活動，難怪人們會說為何美國橫空出世：法蘭西輸掉與印第安人的戰爭歸根結底是因為把過多的精力耗費在豪宅上面，致使美國走上自由之路。

        從外表上來看，奧古斯特堡跟十八世紀普普通通的深宅大院沒啥兩樣，導遊索性把注意力心全部移至富麗堂皇的洛可可室內裝潢以及綠樹成蔭的巴洛克花園，我心中有數，很想知道有錢人不肯花錢裝飾門臉究竟圖啥……接着房間布景映入眼帘。

        宮殿裡沿用很多亞洲裝飾圖案，譬如瓷器藝術品和中國繪畫。此外，主題思想從頭到尾貫穿整個建築設計，天篷、走廊及窗戶全部鑲有德國洛可可花邊，曲線流動風雅時尚，從一間屋子轉入另一間屋子，上一單元連接下一單元，大家按遊覽順序依次轉了個遍。我相信全套樓房都是由各個小單元組合而成大單元，但不久我們突然來到寬敞明快的大廳，正面主樓梯恰為今天參觀的焦點所在，其地面和支柱均由類似大理石結構的材料裝飾而成，簡單好看；牆壁上不是閃爍的各種徽章就是鐫鏤的浮雕藝術，象徵人生目標的石刻作品錯落有致。有一尊石雕耐人回味，它用孩子半身塑像來再現謙卑之意，殊不知這座城堡唯一算得上“謙卑”的地方莫過於僕人宿舍。在樓梯頂層，只要抬頭仰望，你準保發現無與倫比的天花板畫，樓板宛似圓拱，讓我信以為真，畫面展示聖潔般天堂，天使們在雲中吹着小號。對於遊客而言，如若爬上樓梯，定會有股升天的感覺。

        在參觀完樓梯旁二樓另外一側後，我們終於通過現已不太掩飾的秘密僕人宿舍下樓。離開的時候，我禁不住感嘆歲月變遷，如今要想了解天地經緯，你不妨登陸推特網站，即使一本正經的人照樣如此；可追溯往昔，只有身居這種碩大無比美若仙境的權貴人物才能要什麼有什麼。不管怎樣，兩個時代都存有財富支配問題。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2015: Travel alone to Beijing(獨行北京)

2014: YMCA Camp─Dodgeball-1(基督教青年會夏令營─躲避球之一)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

Germany(出遊德國)

Europe(歐洲掠影)