Carrettu sicilianu
The Carrettu sicilianu ( Sicilian for "Sicilian cart", Italian Carretto siciliano ) has been an exhibit in the Berlin Museum of European Cultures since 1999 . It is a wooden Sicilian cart with a splendid picture program that the German Emperor Wilhelm II brought back from one of his trips to Italy in 1904 or 1905 as a souvenir or gift.
history
Wilhelm II undertook two trips to Italy, which are suitable for the procurement of the carrettu . The first trip took him in March 1904 on his yacht Hohenzollern to Venice , where he met the Italian King Viktor Emanuel III. met. In Venice they visited a new museum together, among other things. A second meeting with the king, however, took place in Naples , where the Hohenzollern was already on April 6, 1905. They dined on the yacht and in the evening visited the Teatro San Carlo . The program featured the Italian premiere of the opera Rolando by Ruggero Leoncavallo . On which of these occasions the carrettu came into the possession of the German emperor is no longer traceable. However, since an inscription on the underside of the carrettu bears the date 7 July 1904 (7 June 1904), it is unlikely that it came into the possession of Kaiser Wilhelm on his trip to Venice in March 1904.
The cart initially served as a decoration for the Roman baths in Potsdam's Sanssouci Park. After the end of the monarchy in Germany in 1918 and the expropriation of the princes in 1926, the Carrettu sicilianu became the property of the German Empire . In 1937 it came to the then Berlin Museum of Ethnology , since 2011 it has been part of the permanent exhibition Cultural Contacts - Life in Europe of the conceptually redesigned Museum of European Cultures and is currently (November 2017) at the start of the tour opposite the Venetian gondola .
description
The dimensions of the elaborately crafted cart are: 3.40 m; Width: 1.60 m and height: 1.80 m. The artist, who painted and decorated the Berlin carrettu in the so-called Palermo style , has immortalized himself on the object with his signature and the year 1904 : Girolamo Nicotra, Via Lincoln No 200, Palermo . Today there is a postcard printing company at this address. On the underbody of the car is the indication 7 Giugno 1904 painted with a curved black brushstroke .
The single-axis wooden carrettu is designed for a draft animal (donkey, mule or small horse), which is clamped with a harness between the anzen , the two bars at the front end. The wheel tires of the wooden spoked wheels show no wear, so the cart was not in everyday use. The loading area is high due to the large wheel diameter. Large wheels can better compensate for bumps in the path. Traditionally, the Sicilian carts are richly painted and adorned with intricate carvings, some of which are based on the figures of the popular Sicilian puppet theater of the 19th century. These figures became symbols of the Italian struggle for freedom as well as operas and plays. The painting of this carrettu includes both the outside and the inside of the three side walls. The underside of the loading area, including the axle, wheels and iron fittings, are also covered with colorful paintings that can be viewed through a mirror on the floor in the museum.
According to the description of Irene Ziehe, curator at the Museum of European Cultures, these paintings are based on a certain pictorial program . In addition to geometric patterns and flower garlands, there are stories told in pictures about paladins , such as the Orlando , similar to those portrayed by the bailiff on their colorful picture panels. On the carrettu the story of the siege and capture of by the Islamic will Saracens dominated Palermo in 1068 by the Normans under the Christian Roger I. shown. Roger's entry into Palermo is depicted on Sicilian carts to this day . Details of the pictures show the symbolic handing over of the keys, the knights involved, the coronation of Rogers in the cathedral of Palermo in 1130, a portrait of Rogers on the loading area and supplement what is depicted with explanatory texts. The explanatory sentences on the side walls of the Berlin carrettu are:
“RUGGIERO DISFA 'I SARACENI PRESSO PALERMO L'ANNO 1068 / RUGGIERE RICEVE LE CHIAVI DEL CASTELLO. / ENTRATA DI RUGGIERE A PALERMO ”
"Roger overwhelms the Saracens in 1068 / Roger receives the key to the fortress / Roger's entry into Palermo"
The labels are on the side walls and differ from today's Italian spelling.
literature
- Konrad Vanja, Elisabeth Tietmeyer . In: Zitty . 2011 ( zitty.de - Vanja and Tietmeyer from the Museum of European Cultures about Christmas figures , a swastika and their new exhibition).
- Irene Ziehe: cultural contacts. Life in Europe . Ed .: Museum of European Cultures (= Museum of European Cultures . Volume 10 ). Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig / Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-7338-0382-7 , pp. 36 ff . (Museum catalog).
Web links
- Souvenir fruit carts from Wilhelm II on kunstundfilm.de
- Cultural contacts. Life in Europe on berlin.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Andreas Kilb: Museum of European Cultures: Why does Europe not belong in the Berlin Palace? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. faz.net, December 6, 2011, accessed November 28, 2017 .
- ↑ operalounge.de
- ↑ Venetian gondola and Sicilian cart - the first exhibits of the Museum of European Cultures move into the Bruno-Paul-Bau. (PDF; 73.8 kB) smb.museum, press release April 16, 2011.
- ↑ Irene Ziehe: Cultural contacts. Life in Europe . Ed .: Museum of European Cultures, Leipzig / Berlin 2011, p. 40 f.