The Spessart Museum inside the Lohr am Main Castle is home to a treasure full of history and interesting stories about the Spessart region.
The former castle of the Counts of Rieneck and the Electors of Mainz is now the Spessart Museum, where the cultural history of one of Germany's largest contiguous forest areas is presented under the motto “Man and Forest” in an area of more than 2,000 square meters.
The former castle of the Counts of Rieneck and the Electors of Mainz is now the Spessart Museum, where the cultural history of one of Germany's largest contiguous forest areas is presented under the motto “Man and Forest” in an area of more than 2,000 square meters.
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00:00Laura, Maine is one of the last stops on our trip through the Spessart.
00:15We have seen many exciting and interesting things, and that's not all.
00:20In addition to the wining and dining activities, we also find culture and history here in Laura.
00:26We saw the approximately 250-year-old iron hammer mill in Hasslach, the heavy industry
00:31of the late 18th century.
00:34Today there is still heavy manufacturing in the Spessart, for example the Bosch Rexroth
00:38iron foundry in Laura.
00:42We find an impressive illustration of how everything is interconnected in the Castle
00:46Museum.
01:56What looks so romantic and nostalgic here is actually evidence of the harsh everyday
02:14life of the inhabitants of this area.
02:25In our archives I found a few recordings from 1997 in which Mr. Bald, the museum director
02:31at the time, shared his profound knowledge of the ancient life and work in this region
02:36with us.
02:42We want to know from Herbert Bald what life in the Spessart meant for the common people,
02:46because the people here did not have an easy life.
02:49This ambiguity of the Spessart has shaped the lives of the people here from the Middle
02:53Ages, that is from the beginning of the settlement to the early 20th century.
02:58On the other hand, the forest has also offered opportunities for survival firstly through
03:03its abundance of timber and secondly through the red sandstone itself, which we can see
03:08quite well over here.
03:10The red sandstone of the Spessart was mined in quarries, as we can see here in the large
03:16photo.
03:17This group of people was photographed in 1899 and it gives a very good impression of what
03:23people were like back then, marked by hard work.
03:27And then blocks of stone were taken from these quarries and transported to the stonemasons'
03:32workshops.
03:33The export of the colored sandstone went far beyond the borders of the region, as far as
03:39to the Rhine area.
03:41We are now descending into the castle's cellar and, symbolically speaking, also into the
03:45Spessart soil, where I will show you a few natural resources, especially the economically
03:50most important one of the Spessart, namely iron.
03:54The work of the blacksmith was already semi-automated by the end of the Middle Ages, so to speak.
03:59This means that water-powered hammer mills were set up where it was possible in the landscape
04:04and then some of the work could be done with these large machines.
04:09Such facilities were also set up in the Spessart area.
04:12In terms of economic history, this practically represents an intermediate step between the
04:16forge, with its pure manual labor, and industry, which is characterized by full automation
04:22and a very strong division of labor.
04:26This young lady is Snow White.
04:28With a little luck, you might come across her at weekends or on holidays.
04:32Lore has a very special relationship to her.
04:42Lore Castle is, as is well known, the home of Snow White.
04:46And Snow White was a daughter of the House of Aertal, who resided here as the chief officers
04:51of the Electorate of Mainz.
04:53That is, so to speak, they were governors of the Elector and Archbishop of Mainz, who
04:58ruled over the eastern part of the Spessart on behalf of this high lord and naturally
05:02had to have a residence befitting their rank.
05:06And this room, which is the only one still preserved like it was in the 18th century
05:11from the period around 1700 to 1750, gives a small impression of how one lived here as
05:17a bailiff of the Electorate of Mainz.
05:20And while we are on the subject of the relatives of Snow White, we have here Friedrich von
05:25Aertal, her younger brother, who later became Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Bamberg.
05:32In the fairy tale of Snow White, the talking mirror plays the decisive role.
05:37It set the catastrophic events in motion with its saying.
05:41And such talking mirrors actually existed, and they were made here in law.
05:47And one such example hangs here in the Spessart Museum.
05:51These mirrors from the early 18th century contain sayings, as can be seen above.
05:56And that's what gives us a talking mirror, so to speak, polished language.
06:07Our visit to the Spessart Museum in Lohr is coming to an end.
06:19We have learned about the highlights of the Western Spessart, which deal with the forest,
06:23the development of heavy industry, and the challenging living conditions of the population.
06:28We have also been introduced to the historical links to the story of Snow White and the Seven
06:32Dwarfs.
06:34I will tell you more about this in our feature about the city of Lohr and Maine, among other
06:37things.