In the series »Newly discovered. Newly acquired. Newly published.« we would like to draw your attention to the unknown and often surprising sources in the foundations' historical collections.
Newly discovered. Newly acquired. Newly published.
Several events
11.03. Wednesday
Conviviality, education and high politics – The newly acquired estate of the famous Niemeyer family from Halle
On the fourth evening of our series »Newly discovered. Newly acquired. Newly published.«, Dr. Thomas Grunewald, head of the Study Centre, together with historian and Niemeyer expert Dr. Jessika Piechocki (Halle), will place the new findings in the context of previous research on Niemeyer. They will discuss open questions, such as the role Niemeyer really played in preserving foundations and the university, and what can be gleaned from the letters about the development of the relationship between Niemeyer and his future wife.
August Hermann Niemeyer is regarded as the »renovator« of the Francke Foundations, which were in a state of decline around 1800, and as their »savior«, as he managed to ensure their continuity despite the occupation by Napoleon's troops and the subsequent political changes. In addition, he, who was also the long-standing chancellor of the University of Halle, is credited with preserving the alma mater hallensis: great achievements that he accomplished despite, or perhaps because of, an involuntary journey – he later referred to it as a »deportation trip« to France. Niemeyer, the great-grandson of August Hermann Francke, was not only director of the Francke Foundations and chancellor of the university.
Even before 1800, he had made a name for himself as an outstanding educator and man of letters and was acquainted with intellectual giants such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim. Niemeyer's residence, located on what is now Jerusalemer Platz, right next to the famous Riesenhaus, was a place of enlightened conviviality in the last decades of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century. Together with his wife Agnes Wilhelmine, née von Köpken, he ran a salon that was known throughout Prussia and even counted the Prussian king among its guests.
Thanks to the donation of the Harsch-Niemeyer family archive, the Francke Foundations have recently come into possession of the private correspondence of Niemeyer, his wife and his parents-in-law in Magdeburg – an extraordinary stroke of luck for research!
All interested parties can look forward to a deep dive into the social life, education and high politics of Halle at the end of the 18th century.
