The route is 600 km long and passes through more than 60 cities […]
You already know the ending of the stories. A maiden running away in braids, a girl sleeping soundly, and animals teaching moral lessons.
But where do the most famous fairy tales in world literature come from?
You can find the answer in German fairy tale itinerarya 600 kilometer long tourist itinerary in Germany, which goes from Hanau, near Frankfurt, to Bremen, on the North Sea, passing through more than 60 cities linked to the life and work of the Brothers Grimm.
More than imagining plots for fantastic stories, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm drew inspiration from oral accounts, collected in mountain destinations in Germany, such as the state of Hesse, to give life to stories such as Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood.
To avoid frustration, it is worth remembering that the images immortalized by Disney will not be present on any of the stops on this trip. A disneyfication of castles, exaggeratedly lit, and blond characters with clean costumes are not in the script.
Find out below what the attractions are German fairy tale itinerary.
HANAU
The journey begins in the city where Jacob and Wilhelm were born, in 1785 and 1786 respectively. But unfortunately, the destination was bombed in 1945, when 85% of the city was destroyed and very little remained of the Grimm era.
The family remained there until 1791, when patriarch Philipp returned to his hometown Steinau to take up the position of district judge.
Declared “City of the Brothers Grimm” in 2006, Hanau is home to a bronze statue from 1896, paying homage to their famous sons, in Neustädt’s market square, as well as a sign marking the land where the Grimm house once stood, on Paradeplatz.
STEINAU
60 kilometers from Hanau is Steinau, where Jacob and Wilhelm spent their childhood, in the Amtshaus, a half-timbered house from 1512, which served as a residence during the short stay of the Grimm family.
Currently, the city’s main street is home to the Brothers Grimm Museum, located on Brüder-Grimm-Straße (Rua Irmãos Grimm, in Portuguese), whose collection houses more than 200 manuscripts, walls lined with copies of translated Grimm works in 140 languages and original, international versions of their stories.
MARBURG
It is in this city that the Grimm stories begin to take shape, where the duo is encouraged by Professor Friedrich Carl von Savigny to collect the first stories that would later become famous fairy tales, such as the stories of Cinderella Comes from Golden bird.
It was also in this city that their texts began to be illustrated by 450 works by the artist Otto Ubbelohde, between 1906 and 1908. In Marburg, they not only studied, between 1802 and 1805, but also carried out in-depth studies on topics such as philology, history, linguistics, literature and religion.
Did you find it too little? There they also dedicated themselves to linguistic studies (German, Spanish, French, classical Greek, English, Latin, Provençal, Russian and Swedish).
KASSEL
150 kilometers from Frankfurt, the city hosted the Grimms for more than thirty years, considered the most fertile period of their literary and academic career, as the creation of German Grammar.
The destination is home to the Brüder Grimm Museum, at the Bellevue Palace, where the original manuscripts are kept, notes and all, in the center of Kassel. The site is considered the largest collection of Grimm works in all of Germany.
But the most famous German stories around the world are still those of maidens sleeping soundly and frogs becoming princes, among many others.
BREMEN
The route ends in the hometown of the characters in the story The Bremen Musicians.
The city preserves a bronze statue, created by Gerhard Marcks, in 1953, in front of the Ratskeller, the municipal cellar of the Municipality of Bremen, built in 1405.
OTHER CITIES
A German fairy tale itinerary is made up of other destinations linked to the stories of the Brothers Grimm, such as Alsfeld, where the duo would have been inspired by the traditional costume of Schwalm with its red cap, giving rise to Little Red Riding Hood.
Among its more than 400 centuries-old houses, the highlight is the Alsfeld fairytale housebuilt in 1628 with rooms decorated with themes taken from different fairy tales.
Another obligatory stop is Hameln, the city of origin of the legend that inspired the story of the “rat catcher” flautist, considered the darkest figure of the entire German fairy tale journey.
Wonderful stories for children and families
In 1812 Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of Wonderful stories for children and families who, in terms of children and home life, had very little. You only have to read the original Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel to discover that there was nothing childish about the story.
His stories mixed fantasy and everyday facts, loaded with historical information about the routine and moral values of the 19th century, with topics such as relationships between men and women or servants and masters, life and death, wealth and poverty, good and bad.
Released in 1812, the two-volume work had as its reference the French literature of Charles Perrault and the stories of the Italian poet Giambattista Basile, literary models present in around 60 stories written by the Grimms.
And it wasn’t just that.
The work has been declared a ‘Memory of the World’ by UNESCO since 2005, has been translated into more than 160 languages and is the best-known German literature in the world.
CHECK THE ROUTE MAP
Source: Terra
Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.
