Beneath Mount Parnassus
Each of the nine exhibition rooms is characterized by a unique design and a particular way of accessing its objects. The presentation focuses on the appearance of an object and its unique possibility of discovery therein, on literary treatment, shifts in semiotic systems, realms of imagination and expression and perspectives of speaking and portrayal. Simpler, more directly accessible rooms, such as those containing images of Schiller, the traces of his life and his clothing; or rooms that encompass motifs, such as »Love and Madness«, alternate with more difficult, more enigmatic chapters of Schiller’s life, as can be witnessed in Schiller’s workshop and his library, or encompassing motifs such as »Energy and Writing« and »Origin«.
Whoever embarks on even a brief visit to the museum will take away a lasting impression. Whoever returns will have the opportunity to make new discoveries. There is no compulsory tour. After entering the Schiller Hall, the visitor has the choice between the Schiller Section and the Topics Section. The rooms in the Schiller Section comprise diverse building blocks that as a whole portray the kaleidoscopic phenomenon that was Schiller — these building blocks consist of images and traces of Schiller’s body, his writing and his life. The rooms in the Topics Section proceed in a heuristic and historical chronology: they lead from the smallest, most microscopic elements — punctuation marks and written characters — to poetic models for discovering and explaining the world — from a way of speaking to a way of life, from the age of sentimentality in the eighteenth century to Nietzsche’s nihilism at the end of the nineteenth century.
