Evangelical Academy Tutzing

View from Lake Starnberg to the main building, Tutzing Castle

The Evangelical Academy Tutzing in Tutzing in the Starnberg district is a conference and study center of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria . It was founded in 1947 by the then regional bishop Hans Meiser . The academy's task is to hold conferences, seminars and scientific colloquia.

Organization and staff

The academy is headed by the theologian Udo Hahn . Together with him, seven study leaders organize the content of the conferences on the various subject areas. A board of trustees made up of personalities from politics and church, business, research and journalism provides advice.

A total of around 90 conferences with around 12,000 conference participants are organized and carried out each year. The academy is mainly financed from church tax revenues as well as participation fees and third-party grants. The events mainly take place in Tutzing Castle, but also in other places in Germany.

Orientation towards the questions of the time

Politicians from the very beginning met in the post-war academy on Lake Starnberg to set the course for German democracy. Some of what was worked out here in controversial debates was later translated into political practice. On July 15, 1963, Egon Bahr gave his speech " Change through rapprochement" in Tutzing , the core statements of which later determined the political relationship between German Chancellor Willy Brandt and the GDR . In this respect, the Evangelical Academy Tutzing has set accents in the public debates and given impetus for reform-oriented further developments in Germany.

Academy meetings provide impetus in many areas of politics , social sciences and religion , art and culture . Topics range from initiatives for the further development of the European Union and pan-European integration to questions about a future energy industry . The Evangelical Academy Tutzing endeavors to shed light on current questions of the time in the horizon of Christian faith and to advance clarifications in the overall social discourse in order to pave the way for a responsible, fair and participatory society.

Awards ceremonies

Various cultural and social initiatives have emerged from the Tutzing academy work over the past decades. These include the Marie Luise Kaschnitz Prize , which has been awarded every two years since 1984 and with which the Academy has set an accent on the contemporary literary scene.

After all, in 2000 the Academy launched the Tolerance Prize of the Evangelical Academy in Tutzing . Every two years, people and initiatives are honored who stand up for the disadvantaged and act in an exemplary manner with courage, courage and responsibility.

Academy building and park

For the history of ownership of the castle, see the corresponding section on the history of Tutzing

The horseshoe-shaped, three-storey main building of the Tutzing Palace was given its present form between 1803 and 1816 with the renovation of an older facility under Count Friedrich von Vieregg by a Tyrolean master builder. A central projection in front of the lake facade was replaced in 1921/1922 by a three-axis portico, which ends on the first floor with the balustrade of a balcony. In the 19th century the service wing ("Kavaliersbau") was built and in 1922 the hall, built as a palm house in 1802, was converted into a ballroom with a coffered ceiling based on the Italian model. In 1959, Olaf Andreas Gulbransson created the round building of the auditorium with its circular arrangement of the rows of seats that promoted dialogue and discourse, and in 1981 the light wood and glass architecture of the restaurant by Hans-Busso von Busse .

An English garden was built on the two-hectare property around 1840 , which was expanded and redesigned by Carl von Effner in 1870 . Numerous works of art, some of them from the collection of the art dealer Marcell Nemes , who owned the castle until 1930, decorate the rooms and the park of the castle. Only the " Garatshauser Kreuz", a crucifix from the early 16th century in the palace chapel, has a local provenance .

Others

The Friends of the Academy belonged in later years also the former Chemnitzer Gestapo boss John Thümmler on.

literature

Klaus-Jürgen Roepke (Ed.): Castle and Academy Tutzing . Munich 1986.
Udo Hahn : Castle and Evangelical Academy Tutzing . (= Großer Kunstführer 280), Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2014.