Ulm
48°24′N 09°59′E
1 September 2015
Ulm loves its sparrows. The fascination with sparrows is
linked to a legend that during the construction of the Ulm Minster, workers
were trying to bring a particularly long log through one of the city gates, but
it did not fit. When they were about to demolish the gate they saw a sparrow
which was carrying a long straw turning its head to take the straw longwise
through a narrow gap. The workers took
the hint and from then on loaded the logs along their carts rather than across
them.
I guess it is possible that this is true, although there are
various origin stories for the legend.
What I don’t understand is that the locals have adopted it as their identity
calling themselves and their football team the Ulmer Spatz. More than that, there are sparrow statues and
figures everywhere and half the hotels and businesses carry the sparrow in
their name or logo.
There are even some real sparrows to be found, although they are well camouflaged!
I suppose that
explains while Albert Einstein, who was born here in 1879, only lasted a year
before he moved on to Munich. They do
have a statue of him though!
There is, of course, more to Ulm than sparrows.
The Ulm Minister, which started construction
in 1377 did not reach completion until 1891, which was lucky because it opened
up the opportunity to make the spire the highest in Europe, by 1 metre,
creating a reason for all the highest, strongest, longest collectors to come to
see the building.
Again, there is more to
the minster than being one metre higher than the next highest.
It is an impressive building with some great stonework.
I particularly like the Ulmer take on
gargoyles which are scarier than the monsters found on most cathedrals because
it is easy to visualise finding one’s self hanging out from the corner of the
building in their place.
Inside there
are some very impressive wooden figures sitting in the choir,
and an interior filled with light.
On the night of 17 December 1944, the Royal Airforce bombed
two large factories in the proximity of Ulm and as collateral damage managed to
wipe out the homes of around 25,000 people. So, most of Ulm looks relatively
new, but fortunately built in a style and scale that suits the age of the city:
it was founded around 850 AD.
In common
with many German towns, it has a relatively new library which we visited
and enjoyed. They even serve coffee on the top floor, so it has become a
social hub
as well as a cultural centre. In fact,
in spite of loosing Albert Einstein, they did establish a university in 1967
and the University web page boasts of being in the city where Einstein was born
– no mention of sparrows, though.
 |
Enjoying the Library
|
 |
The Library
|
The location of Ulm gives it an interesting place in
history. It is on the Danube which flows
on to Austria and the black sea. Ulm is about as far upstream one can navigate
a reasonable size vessel. Accordingly,
over the centuries refugees moving upstream from afar reached the limit of
their navigation. Ulm has a tradition of
treating them well and along the banks of the river on the outside of the town
fortifications are many signs and symbols indicating that Ulm welcomes
refugees.
We took advantage of the good weather and the location and
hired some bikes to ride for 10km or so along the river in what is known as Neu-Ulm
 |
Bikes on the Danube
|
 |
Admiring the Spire
|
Putting this all together, I gained the impression that
there is a degree of wit and wisdom in Ulm, and the sparrow legend may just be
the Ulmer’s way of not taking themselves too seriously.
