Journeys Through the Rügen Region | In the Footsteps of Johann Jacob Grümbke | Part 3
“From Rugard, I turned northward toward another mountain nearby, which is almost the same height, conical in shape, and covered with heather. … Diversity within unity, the most precise order, the most perfect harmony within apparent disorder—that is, the admirable combination of the grand with the humble, the wild with the gentle, and so on. This is what constitutes the essence of nature’s beauty.”
Johann Jacob Grümbke, Bergen, September 3, 1803
In 1805, “Streifzüge durch das Rügenland” was published. In letters to a friend, Johann Jacob Grümbke—the son of a doctor from Bergen, a private tutor, and a self-taught scholar—vividly and entertainingly describes the diversity of his impressions and experiences immediately following his hikes through the island. He is interested in nature and the landscape, local history, and the customs and traditions of the inhabitants. The ever-changing interplay of colors and forms in nature, observed from numerous vantage points, inspires him to create watercolors and pen-and-ink drawings. He wrote this book “to be of use to his contemporaries, and in part to leave a memorial for posterity that might teach them what Rügen was like in his father’s time.”
220 years later, we want to trace the footsteps of Johann Jacob Grümbke on various hikes, observing and experiencing the diverse atmospheric qualities of Rügen’s landscapes.
Part 3 | Rugard