Datum + Uhrzeit: 23.09.2018 - 11.11.2018, ganztags / all day

Ort: Museum Burg Posterstein's gallery

Between 1795 and 1821 there was a living salon in Löbichau Castle near Posterstein. It attracted artists, writers and politicians, noblemen as well as commoners, from all over Europe. The hostess, the beautiful duchess Anna Dorothea of Kurland (1761–1821), was one of the richest women in Europe. She cleverly managed to establish a social network that spread throughout the European continent. Her letters were addressed to recipients in her homeland Courland (today in Latvia) as well as in Russia, Poland and France, Italy and Denmark, Vienna and Carlsbad. She traveled by coach between Berlin, Carlsbad, Silesia, Paris, Vienna and Löbichau.

Löbichau Castle on a postcard from 1904

In the summer months, she gathered her guests in her castles in Löbichau and Tannenfeld in today’s Altenburger Land in Thuringia. In the salons of that time, often led by a lady, contacts were made and political decisions were initiated – accompanied by music, theater and tea. Salons were one of very view possibilities for women to participate in society. Countless letters document this time. If people like Anna Dorothea of Courland would have had the possibilities of today’s social media, they certainly would have been among the “influencers” of their time.

The exhibition is designed as a laboratory

The exhibition “#SalonEurope: analog meets digital” is designed as a laboratory. Based on the historic salon culture around 1800, the exhibition creates a relation to the present time and current political situation. As the poet Jean Paul acknowledged, everyone in the salon of the Duchess of Courland was free to express his opinion as long as it was presented in a courteous manner. Similarly, visitors of the #SalonEuropa Laboratory will be given the opportunity to express their thoughts on Europe today, both in analog and digital form. A screen in the exhibition and the website www.saloneuropa.eu display different opinions on Europe in videos, commentaries and blog posts. Comments can be entered directly in the exhibition and will be visible on the Internet after approval. We aim to bring together as many opinions as possible on the website, which in this way are visible in the exhibition.

We are looking for opinions and photos of Europe for the exhibition!

Pictures and photographs of European places and cities around 1800 and today (in Latvia, Poland, Austria and France) will connect the exhibition to the There and Now. On a work table plans for a centre of historic salon culture at Posterstein Castle will be shown. Several events will accompany the ehibition.

We are looking for photos of European places today and people who express their opinion on the question “Europe means for me …?”, which would be represented in the exhibition in one form or another. Feel free to contact us on the social networks, by mail or in person.