The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-10-10
OUR GERMAN LETTER.

FAMOUS lion OIL Hc10eIDeTR0-Thc ssRfveY
Tewer''-The Town and Univergity Build
fngs Observations Of u New OrIeania
Abroad.
European Correspondence of the Bulletin.1
HEIDELBERG, September, Is, 1875,
Heidelberg how the very name of the
place seems to conjure up fancies of fantastic
pageants of student life in the feeting, roman
tic past Midnight revels duels games Of
cards and dice, with the devil in some form
or other present, or participant in the play;
torchlight professions, and all those phases
of life that we read about in the old legends
of Heidelberg, its famous University and its
students, seem to come before the mind when
the name Of this quaint old city is mentioned;
and here am, present in Heidelberg itself,
with its picturesque hills in the back ground,
and the Neckar flowing calmly by, as features
of a real picture instead of an ideal one, and
the brown old castle overlooking the whole
from its commanding perch upon the hill
side, SO sombre and grand when it frowns in
ruined nakedness upon the stream, but so
picturesque and lovely where its broken bat
Elements peep out from between festoons Of
clinging ivy that luxuriant nature has given to
Irvine and creep upon its ancient walls.
have seen the ruins of many castle since my
feet first pressed the soil of Germany, and
have admired many, thinking them as pic
turesque as lovely, vine-clad ruins need be,
but since have wandered among the vast
ruins of this castle Of Heidelberg all others
seem poor and Insignificant by comparison.
Fancy pile of gigantic dimensions, with
pondrous towers, long facades, rich in sculp-
lures, lines of battlements, some ruined and
battered, others as perfect as when they came
from the builders hand, great gates and
arches all built Of beautiful red sandstone,
and covered with wild profusion of ivy, and
fancy this grand picture placed upon the sum-
NIT of finely wooded hill, with cloudless
sky for background, winding river below,
and all mellowed in the evening sunshine,
and the reader will have en- idea of the castle
of Heidelberg, as I saw it yesterday for the
first time--a picture that can never be for
gotten.
climbed the hill and stood upon the little
plateau constituting, doubtless, what was
once the castle yard, and which is now beau
tiful garden, with lofty shade trees, smooth
gravel walks and seats placed invitingly in
little hooks where the shadows are deepest
and the air coolest. I wandered in this gar
den, listening to the music of fine military
band playing on the other side of the castle,
and at every turn found some new attraction
in the scene, either in the grounds themselves,
in the glimpses of the ruins the trees dis
closed, or in the landscape that was spread
before my eyes in the valley of the Nsckar.
There were numbers of other visitors pre-
sent, many of whom were artists engaged in
painting or stretching, and all seemed to feel
that we were enjoying glimpse OF paradise
in the matchless scene. Then 1 turned and
sought the ruins and passing beneath a
ponderous portal whose spiked portcullis
still hung threateningly overhead, found
myself within the great courtyard of old, !
where doubtless many troop OF mailed |
knights have assembled in times gone by to |
sally forth on warlike expeditions; but the |
only knights that look upon the battered
sculptures of that court to-day are those who |
stand forth, grim and time-worn, from the |
red stone walls above the castle gate, where
they rest upon their massive shields and
seem to ponder on the changes time has
wrought.
Some antiquarians claim that the orna-
mental work of the long facade fronting this
court was designed by Michael Angelo, but
by far the greater majority regard this as i'm
probable, as it certainly must be, though the
work is fine enough to justify the belief that
its design might have come from the great
Italian masters hand. Then there are the
great cellars of the castle, and in one Of them
stands cask so gigantic that one who has
never seen it can hardly conceive an idea of
its enormous proportions by hearing of its
various measurements This is the famous
+" Ton OF Heidelberg" cask capable of con-
tanning nearly $4,000 gallons of wine, and
said to have been only three times full.
The mystery is to decide what ever pos
sessed man to build such a monstrous bar
rel There is double flight of steps by
which the visitor can mount to the top Of the
cask and look down into the bung hole, and,
as is always the case, the heads of the cask
and all the available spaces around are in
scribed with the names of persons who have
been there. After seeing this prodigious ves-
sci explored all the accessible portions of
the ruins, and was everywhere struck with
the great solidity of the walls. Few fortrssses
or castles have been so severely dealt with as
this one Of Heidelberg, and yet it is in very
admirable state Of preservation, thanks to the
massive stone masonry of its walls.
The castle was first blown up with gun
powder, then struck by lightning, and after
ward burned, but it still bids fair to stand a
thousand years. There is one great tower
that merely split when the powder exploded
within it, and the great fragment that fell
away, may yet be seen as it lies solid and vast