In the microcosm of democracy, the crucial historical document can be found more than once. The “Call for the election of the deputies to the German National Assembly in Frankfurt am Main” is stuck as a poster on an advertising pillar and on the stone facade of a house. The voters are addressed as “citizens of the constitutional fatherland!” That sounds euphoric and is formulated very optimistically, actually anticipating what was desired for the fatherland in 1848, namely a united Germany with a constitution that was supposed to guarantee rights for the citizens and limit the power of the ruling monarch. Because the country had split into a large number of small states when the elected members of the National Assembly met in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche to draft a constitution.
The activities of the constituent assembly are illustrated in a microcosm made of Playmobil figures, which the Hamburg artist Oliver Schaffer set up in the Museum Schloss Philippsruhe in Hanau. In eleven dioramas, which consist of 5,000 figures and 20,000 individual parts, houses and carriages, not only the parliament is shown, but the history of democracy in Germany in the 19th century is told. This includes the prehistory of the revolution of 1848 as well as the events of the decades that followed.
Uprising: Soldiers in front of a barricade during the September uprising in the revolutionary year 1848.
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Image: Lucas Bäuml
The main showpiece is the miniature replica of the Paulskirche, recognizable by its round shape, the characteristic tower and the color of the building material, the red Main sandstone. Parliamentary work is shown in great detail, the MPs’ tables with books, newspapers, notes and water carafes, in between the MPs in black frock coats, all under black, red and gold flags, in front of the door the elected politicians with top hats on their heads . The large display case also shows the city in which the Paulskirche is located, as well as everyday life in a vibrant community in front of the facades of the town houses. On the streets are carriages with elegant citizens and carts full of suitcases and sacks. At the weekly market there are stalls with bread, cakes, potatoes and vegetables, and a musician with an accordion arouses the curiosity of a small group of children. Next to a park bench is the advertising pillar with the election call, and the Roman with its three stepped gables is not missing either.
Dance and debates at the Vienna Congress
The exhibition begins with the Congress of Vienna, which created the order that the revolutionaries wanted to overcome in 1815. A ball with musicians in baroque clothing and dancing couples shows the glamorous world of the nobility and alludes to the traditional sentence of one participant: “The congress dances, but it does not make progress.”
On the upper floor of a palace, men in operatic uniforms negotiate. During the debates, the princes and their diplomats kept to themselves, and there were no representatives of the people. The old noble dynasties finally consolidated the power of their states.
Folk festival of rebellion at Hambach Castle
The rebellion of the bourgeoisie against the rule of the nobility becomes clear at the Hambach Festival in May 1832. You can see the procession of the burghers up to the castle ruins on a wooded hill, a folk festival with tables full of jugs and food. But the meeting was not just a fair, but a political rally against the political restrictions, the participants formulated demands for popular sovereignty and freedom rights such as freedom of the press.
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