Faith Matters - Phoenix from the Ashes - An Old Church in a New Role

Gradually the idea evolved of breathing new life into this ruined church. Moritz Götze and Rüdiger Giebler grew up in East Germany, where faith and religion were discouraged by the Communist dictatorship. However, the two artists developed a strong interest in the pre-Communist history of their homeland. Götze, in particular, was fascinated by old churches - not as places of contemporary worship but as cultural and historical artefacts, which he then processed in his paintings. Together with the young pastor Lüder Laskowski and other enthusiasts, Götze and Giebler founded the Kaisersachern Association and purchased the church ruins, including the overgrown plot of land with the tombstone of Nietzsche's grandfather. With their own money, donations and subsidies, they have saved the old church from final decay. "Kaisersaschern" isn’t the name of a real town; it’s a fictional location invented by the great German novelist and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann, who described it as the "real center of Germany,” a symbol of Germany’s turbulent history and the home of one of his protagonists, based on the nineteenth-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Moritz Götze and Rüdiger Giebler embarked recently on a round-the-world trip, titled "Grand Tour — Made in Kaisersaschern.” With a few paintings in their luggage, the two artists conveyed the spirit of their Central European homeland to North America, London, New Zealand, Australia, India, Italy — and to many other places. And they still have great plans for their Kaisersachern.