Destination 2017: Ratzeburg

The town of Ratzeburg lies on an island in a lake in the far north of Germany. It has a stupidly complicated history, some tenuous connections with the British royal family and is a great venue for the bluffer's guide to architectural styles.
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Music:
"On My Way Home (Sting)"
by The 126ers
KZbin Audio Library
"Walk In The Park" and "Thingamajig"
by Jason Shaw audionautix.com
Creative Commons Attribution license
"Gregorian Chant" and "Hot Swing"
by Kevin MacLeod incompetech.com/
Creative Commons Attribution licence
"Bayou State of Mind"
by Jingle Punks
KZbin Audio Library
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[@MegaJK97]

I've been living for 7 years in Lübeck and I've visited Ratzeburg many times. Both cities have their islands and are beautiful ^~^

[@natascharank5604]

I have been living here in Lübeck for 7 years, too. Makes it 12 years from your posting. I would be interested, if you don`t mind, do you still live here and do you still find it beautiful? Or are you - like me - feeling the effects of mass tourism that seems to have taken a great toll on this area recently? I was actually glad to find some historical information on this channel about Ratzeburg; the other videos on KZbin appear to be related to tourism only. Our landord is based in Ratzeburg, residing in an historical building in Lübeck he bought some years ago. There seem to be a lot of territorial and political issues involved, so I thought I might find some answers in history.

[@PianistStefanBoetel]

FInally you care for North Germany!

[@hd_inmemoriam]

He has always cared for Itzehoe.

[@clydesight]

I love your travel videos! You do such and amazing job with them. So informative and entertaining. And such beautiful sights! Thanks for making this and all your travel videos.

[@Balligat]

Müßte "Alte Wache" nicht besser als "old guard house" übersetzt werden? Wie auch immer - ein gut recherchiertes & überzeugend dargebotenes Bild der Stadt. Da kann sich manche 'kommerzielle' Stadtwerbung eine Scheibe abschneiden ....

[@afrofynn2733]

jay Keishauptstadt

[@hartmutbohn]

You mentioned Mannheim in this video - also a city well worth a visit! ;)

[@darthid77]

Well now you have to do Lübeck next...

[@JonnyRZ]

Thank you for the great presentation of my hometown ^^

[@uncinarynin]

Rudi Rollmops, der Rächer von Ratzeburg!

[@eltfell]

Spitzbögen gab es schon in der Romanik. Das wichtigste Erkennungsmerkmal deutscher Romanik ist das "gebundene System": Je zwei Seitenschiffjoche gliedern sich an einem Mittelschiffjoch an. Jedes Mittelschiffjoch und Seitenschiffjoch und das Chorjoch entspricht in seiner Größe der Vierung. Es handelt sich also um einen quadratischen Schematismus.

[@rewboss]

Das ist zwar richtig, aber für einen Laien, der nur angeben will, nicht so hilfreich. Ich wollte nämlich nur so nebenbei schnell mal erklären, wie man auf dem ersten Blick erkennen kann, in was für ein Gebäude man sich gerade befindet.

[@namewarvergeben]

Als Daumenregeln schon sehr hilfreich!

[@namewarvergeben]

I like the oak-and-clinker timber frames. They seem to be most common in the north of Germany, whereas other regions mostly seem to use materials other than clinker bricks.

[@Schulzffw]

Weil es dort oben keine vernünftigen Steine gibt. Holz und Ton sind die am einfachsten verfügbare Baumaterialien im Norden.

[@namewarvergeben]

Schön ist es meistens trotzdem ; )

[@Schulzffw]

Ja und Klinker sind aus Ton gebrannte Ziegel. Das war ja auch keineswegs abfällig gemeint.

[@globus3671]

Mein Geburtsort😍

[@jamescook2412]

I love how you included a map and the Wappen(s?) Amazing channel

[@shahlabadel8628]

bravo! First-rate video as ever!!

[@Mister2Magic]

ich wohne dort

[@MiisterT]

Gefällts dir dort ?

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

I am always surprised by the English name for "Braunschweig" being "Brunswick" (as in New Brunswick in Canada, which means this was once called Neubraunschweig?) My surprise comes from the fact that Brunswick and Braunschweig look very different. I mean, of course one wouldn't have to translate it literally (into some "English for Runaways" kind of fashion that would make "Brown Silence" out of it, or so), but I wonder how it came to be that this is the English name for the city? Does it have to do with the etymology of the name Braunschweig (which I know nothing about)?

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

Brunswick is the medieval name/spelling. I suspect the -wick bit has the same meaning as the -wich in Ipswich which has changed spelling since 1086 from Gypeswiz via Gippeswick to the current form.

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

That would mean that at some point in the middle ages, "Braunschweig" was actually called "Brunswick" (or something along those lines) even by the locals? Wow, that's hard to imagine.

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

Harder to imagine than that Ipswich was called Gypeswiz or Birmingham Brummagem or that Ratzeburg was called Racisburg when it was founded?

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

I know, language is alive and constantly changing and all, but I'd really like to be able to retrace how these changes occured over time (and which steps laid in between the old and the modern form)

[@WikiNuiNathanael]

Brunswick is Low German (Plattdeutsch), so yes, it was called that by the locals, and not that long ago either

[@ezyzet]

Where in the UK are you from? You're speaking with an RP accent, aren't you? I am not that good at recognising accents yet, but I am interested in the topic as I want to sound like a native speaker when talking. I've heard that only a small percentage of the British speak with an RP accent. Which accent is the most popular?

[@yarmo28]

If the commentator had wanted to be more helpful, he might of mentioned the qualities of the art work you show. His quick introduction to architecture was a joke (I assume).

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

When I was a kid I frequently climbed up and 'rode' the original lion in Braunschweig.

[@peterkroger7112]

Cool, I am living only 30 minutes away from that place.

[@nur0din]

Besuch mal Malchow und vergleich die Städte mal.

[@motivase]

My school town. Boring for young people but full of history!

[@rewboss]

There was a whole youth hostel full of young people apparently enjoying themselves...

[@motivase]

rewboss no doubt, but Ratzeburg is the traditional center of the administration and therefore has a relatively high average age of it's inhabitants. That may not be obvious as a tourist, but shows when you live there. I was living in Mölln 10 km to the south of Ratzeburg and as somebody else already wrote highly recommend a visit to Lübeck.

[@downhill240]

Excellent presentation!

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

The connection to the Royal family is not tenuous at all btw it is rather direct. Lizzy's hubby Phil is a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and just like the Royal family itself he anglicized his surname at some point using the literal translation of Battenberg. Due to centuries of what us commoners would call incest he also has rights to the thrones of Denmark, Greece and Hesse (if there still were one).

[@rewboss]

That's actually not particularly direct: the House of Glücksburg is a branch of the House of Oldenburg, which didn't really have anything to do with Henry the Lion, who was from the House of Welf. Just because Ratzeburg is physically located within the modern state of Schleswig-Holstein doesn't mean it ever was part of either Schleswig or Holstein: it wasn't, it was Saxe-Lauenburg. One branch of the House of Welf did become the House of Hanover, but that was later.

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

On the other hand Schleswig-Holstein very nearly became fully part of Denmark in the 19th century (it involved 2 wars, the 1st the Danes won but they lost the second) and Phil's dad was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark. Up until the 2nd Schleswig War Saxe-Lauenburg was in a personal union with the danish crown ie the King of Denmark was also Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg. Hence my point about more direct than Henry the Lion who is in not really related to the current royals as in a few hundred years more direct.

[@rewboss]

For a period of about 50 years in the 19th century, the Duke of Lauenburg was also King of Denmark. About 85 years later, one of his grandsons married the future Queen of England. It's... not what I'd call a "direct" connection. You could make that sort of connection with nearly everywhere in Europe.

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

In my view substantially more direct than some guy who died over 800 years ago when England was ruled by the House of Anjou but opinions may vary.

[@dejabu24]

great video

[@annypenny8621]

Aaaha...😉

[@sylviahertel8223]

Thank you. I have Heinrich V and Matilda Plantagenet in my family tree, so I added this link to their profiles.