Nostalgically beautiful: rambling through Brandenburg with Theodor Fontane

Theodor Fontane became a great 19th-century German novelist with socially critical works such as "Effi Briest". Equally famous are his travel guides to nostalgic places, villages and battlefields in Scotland and Brandenburg. Fontane's hometown Neuruppin in Brandenburg erected a monument to him. And in 2019 it also had a pedestrian crossing light, a traffic light man, fashioned after him.

200 years ago, on December 30, 1819, Theodor Fontane, the son of an apothecary, was born in Neuruppin. The town, an hour's drive from Berlin, later became the starting point for his five-volume "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg" (Ramblings through Brandenburg), his most notable travel work. He was the first to discover the rural surroundings of Berlin and Potsdam as a tourist destination.

Around 1850, when tourism gained momentum, Fontane also traveled. London, Paris, Scotland. Loch Leven Castle in the Highlands reminded him of Rheinsberg Palace (picture), the former prince's palace of Frederick II, which was deserted and abandoned in Fontane's time. The idea for "Rambling through Brandenburg" was born: "Not until we go abroad are we taught the value of our homeland".

From 1859, Fontane became a hiker in Brandenburg. First expeditions lead him into the Ruppiner Land, the landscapes and villages around Neuruppin. The ivy-clad monastery cemetery at Lake Wutzsee became one of his favorite places. Only the ruins of the monastery itself remain. It is a place of transience that can still be experienced today almost as it was in Fontane's time.

"On a summer morning, grab a walking stick, and your sorrows will fade like fog." In his travel descriptions, Fontane also turned nature on Lake Stechlin into a historical and poetic landscape. This beautifully clear lake in northern Germany is today, as it was 150 years ago, a popular destination for city dwellers who crave idyll and peace.

Spreewald forest in the south of Brandenburg was also part of Fontane's rambles. He praised the stately ferrymen. They ship gherkins, hay and tourists on the obligatory boat trip from Lübbenau to Lehde. The present Spreewald Biosphere Reserve has a total of 970 kilometers (603 mi) of watercourses that form this unique landscape.

"Landmarks, castles, palaces, domes are reflected in your stream," Fontane wrote in the third volume of his "Rambling through Brandenburg" about the places on the Havel River. Lehnin Monastery is regarded as the largest, richest, if not the most beautiful in the region. The austere looking brick church surprises with its lavish interior decoration.

The landscape around Fehrbellin is still a popular destination for history tourists. The replica of the Berlin Victory Column commemorates the legendary Battle of the Horsemen of 1675, which led to the founding of Prussia as a state. The author praised this Prussian victory. He also associated the town with "all sorts of lovely and good things": friendly inhabitants and simple village life.

To this day, people pilgrimage to the village that Fontane made famous with his ballad "Herr von Ribbeck auf Ribbeck im Havelland" (The Squire von Ribbeck at Ribbeck in Havelland), in which he tells the legend of the lord of the manor von Ribbeck, who makes a pear tree grow from his grave for the village children. Today an entire pear garden adorns the village of the former manor.

When Fontane died on September 20, 1898, he was buried in the cemetery of the French Reformed community in Berlin. He spent most of his life in Berlin, which also served as one of the main settings in his novels. Throughout his life, Fontane continued to add new things to his "Ramblings through Brandenburg."