Kosmos Wiepersdorf

Addition

Matthias Wäsche: Wiepersdorf: Castle and Village

A love-hate relationship best describes that between the castle and the residents of Wiepersdorf. An invisible wall seems to separate them. When you drive along the country road, the beautiful castle remains inconspicuous because it is partially hidden by the trees of the park and the adjacent wall.

The common highlights of the year are the summer festival and the tower brass session. At the summer festival, you can go and see the projects of the fellows in the area around the orangery, in the castle park, and in the studios, and also exchange ideas. At the tower brass session, which has been taking place since the 1980s and is always held on the fourth of Advent, you can listen to a brass ensemble playing from the balcony of the castle while enjoying mulled wine and a grilled sausage. A visit to the museum is very worthwhile too.

In the restaurant once run by the Donath family there was a lot of social interaction between the artists at the castle and the local inhabitants of Wiepersdorf. They spent hours together there in a relaxed atmosphere and exchanged anecdotes, especially from village life, over a glass of wine or beer.

The annual village festival and the traditional Easter fire are also the typical meeting places where people mingle and chat. Projects in the surrounding area have also been organized. For example, one can go and enjoy figures that have been set up in the nearby Little Red Riding Hood Park. The orangery was open to family celebrations for the villagers until 2009; I in fact celebrated my wedding there.

The buildings on the castle grounds were gradually renovated and are now gleaming with new coats of paint—and all is trim and tidy. Various events for the general public take place on the castle grounds these days, and in the orangery you can relax over coffee and cake and think about what you have experienced at Wiepersdorf.