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SiegfriedMuseum / Mitteltor

Entrance SiegfriedMuseum
Foto: © museum.de
MItteltor
© Stadtarchiv Xanten
MItteltor
© Stadtarchiv Xanten
MItteltor
© Stadtarchiv Xanten
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Beschreibung

The SiegfriedMuseum Xanten presents the exhibition about the ancient, but still highly topical Nibelungenlied. The significance of the Nibelungenlied is underscored by its designation as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. As a masterpiece of world literature, it congenially blends reality and fiction. Love, hate, loyalty and betrayal are the foundations of the epic, which make it relevant even today. Siegfried of Xanten, the great dragon slayer, set out to find adventure, fame, riches and great love. Ultimately, he failed in his own deeds and dies at the hands of Hagen. The Siegfried Museum presents the characters from the Song of the Nibelungs and makes their greatness and limitations visible. It shows the genesis of the epic. How it was experienced, told, written down and forgotten in the times. One learns about the influence it had on the culture and politics of society and the traces it left in European history. With the exposed walls of the former battlements of the medieval bishop´s castle, the Siegfried Museum points to the origins of Xanten. To your left you can see the Middle Gate. The Middle Gate was not a city gate like the other gates, but a high passage above the wide immunity moat of the Bishop´s Castle. Built around 1392, the Middle Gate separated the northern half of the town of Kleve from the southern part, which was under the rule of the Electorate of Cologne until Xanten was finally awarded to the Count of Kleve in 1444. The battlement, which was first mentioned in 1415, served as an escape and retreat route from the bishop´s castle to the Meerturm and Meertor, although it was not covered at that time. Today, after it was rebuilt in 1978, it is part of the Siegfried Museum.