Forest Worlds: the Germans and their popular natural landscape
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Germans have always had a soft spot for their forests. Not just because eleven million wooded hectares cover around one third of the country’s area. The Black Forest and the Palatinate Forest are just two of these diverse and fascinating natural areas which play a major role as economic factors, ecosystems and places for leisure and recreation. Now, the German Historical Museum in Berlin (DHM) is taking a closer look at the relationship between the Germans and their forests.
From 2 December through to 4 March, next year, the DHM will be showing the cultural-historical exhibition “Under Trees. The Germans and the Forest”. The show illustrates the changing images of forests as perceived by Germans in recent centuries. It also represents the conclusion of Germany’s contribution to the United Nations initiative, the International Year of the Forests 2011. Over the past months more than 6,000 events have been held under the motto “Discover the cultural heritage of our forests!” where the population throughout Germany has had the chance to learn about the forest as a natural resource as well as forest protection.
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The DHM exhibition takes a look at forests as an economic sector that supplies wood and other products. At the same time it focuses on the significance of woods and trees as a romantic landscape filled with yearning, as a subject in literature, art and music, and the role of the forest as a central feature of national identity. The exhibition also highlights the debate of the 1980s about dying forests and the annual custom of decorating a fir tree, which many Germans practise as part of their Christmas celebrations.
Updated: 30 November 2011
Source: www.magazin-deutschland.de
