Bruschal Museum of "Canned Music"

Schloss Bruchsal Castle was once the home of the Prince Bishop of Speyer. More that fifty buildings comprise the complex.  The picture to the right is the central building and it is adorned in baroque style with typical stucco ornaments richly gilded in gold.  Dragons spouting water and chalk white statues add a classical elegance to the facade of the central structure.  The architecture, painting and stucco blends to form an artistic whole.  The work inside by the famous architect Balthazar Neumann is even more impressive.  The Prince Bishop Damien Hugo von Schönborn, a man of influence and connoisseur of art, was the one who commissioned it.

  

The palace now houses a museum devoted to 350 years of self-playing musical instruments.  This was essentially a running history of the18th century salons of the nobility and upper middle class, through the 19th music bars and finally to the cinemas and fairs of the 20th century.

Our tour guide treated us to the sights and sounds of each era and the mechanical instruments that produced them.  From simple instruments that could be held in the palm of your hand, to grandiose elaborate mechanical monstrosities that occupied huge ball rooms.  I was amazed at the scope, diversity and complexity of this art form which reveals my ignorance of the role mechanical instruments played in music history.  As a case in point, I saw one cabinet sized piece that comprised half a dozen instruments playing harmoniously together entirely through mechanical means.  Others were operated by life size mannequins through discreetly placed levers, gears and pulleys.  I subsequent did some research to find hundreds, even thousands of collectors devoted to the pursuit of these art forms and as I began to explore, it did not take much imagination to see why.

We proceeded on to Ladenburg, the home of Karl Benz.  We walked from the old town market square along the Neckar River. We passed what was the garage, where Karl Benz build his first automobile. We continued on to the original manufacturing site which is now a museum housing vintage Benz vehicles.  Arendje and I are standing beside the first patented vehicle  made in 1886. It has a 2 and a half horsepower motor with wire spoke wheels advanced from a bicycle design.
There was a Model # 2 and it is thought only one was made. 

The lady giving us the tour is Jutta Benz, the great granddaughter of Karl Benz.  She provided a personal history of the Benz family and the events surrounding the initial attempts to get some public exposure to the whole idea of a motorized vehicle.  Here she is standing in front of the last vehicle Carl Benz drove before his death in 1929.  In the space of 40 years the design, function and manufacture of the vehicle had changed dramatically, as evidenced here.

Jutta told us a story of how  her great grandmother Bertha Benz,  unbeknownst to her husband took her two sons and decided to generate a promotional campaign of her own.  Carl was decidedly frustrated by all the road blocks in his attempts to getting some commercial interest and positive exposure to his new motorized vehicle.  His wife Bertha, realizing his growing malaise, decided to take the matter in her own hands.  She and her two sons pushed the vehicle quietly out of the yard and started it up with the intent of heading to her mother's place 90 kilometers away.  For Carl, who was still asleep, they  left a brief note indicating where they were going.  They became deeply concerned about their fuel supply as it was quickly diminishing.  In Weisloch they stopped at the municipal chemist's, which still exists today; it proudly commemorates its role as the first gas station.  They had to make two more stops to replenish their supply before they finally returned home.  This vehicle was not without its challenges.  Along the way they had to make some adjustments,  like cleaning a clogged fuel line with a hat pin and insulating a bare ignition cable with Bertha's garter.  What became more of a challenge was having to push the vehicle up hills and carefully guide it down hills as it had a single shoe break that made the descent somewhat of an adventure.

This, the world's first long distance road trip, by car, proved to be a success.  It proved the viability of motorized transportation and set in motion a bright future.  The 180 kilometer trip stifled the skeptical voice of the doubters.  Twenty five of these vehicles were made, with some new fittings, given the experience of the first voyageurs.

We got more than we bargained for with the stop at this museum.  Arendje accommodated my interest and I think actually enjoyed the account by Jutta Benz.