Das Atelier RAISE in Nizza, gefรผhrt von dem Experten Vincent Bottasso-Daideri, widmet sich der professionellen Buchbinderei und der Restaurierung historischer sowie moderner Werke. Die Quellen beschreiben ein breites Spektrum an Dienstleistungen, das von handwerklichen Fachkursen bis hin zur Gestaltung luxuriรถser Kรผnstlereditionen und humorvoller Kunstprojekte wie dem โPass des Rosa Katzen-Landesโ reicht. Bottasso-Daideri ist zudem in der regionalen Kulturszene tief verwurzelt, unter anderem als Generalsekretรคr der Freunde des Kunstmuseums von Nizza und durch Kooperationen mit lokalen Kรผnstlern wie Gรฉrard Serรฉe. Historische Rรผckblicke beleuchten die lange Tradition des Buchbinderhandwerks in der Region, wรคhrend technische Erklรคrungen Einblicke in anspruchsvolle Verfahren wie die Vergoldung oder die Mosaik-Bindung geben. Das Atelier versteht sich somit als ein Zentrum fรผr die Bewahrung des schriftlichen Kulturerbes und die Fรถrderung zeitgenรถssischer Buchkunst.
Between Nice and Monaco, the village of รze rises like a defiant prayer in stone. Anyone climbing the steep path today can perhaps still sense the breath of centuries pastโthe crunch of boots on limestone, the distant thunder of cannons, the whispering of loyalties that changed with the wind like the flags on the battlements.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, this rocky nest belonged to the Duchy of Savoy, that idiosyncratic power between the Alps and the sea, which was neither entirely Italian nor entirely French, but a border kingdom โ tough, ambitious, distrustful. Savoy knew the value of heights. Whoever held the mountains held the roads. And whoever held the roads controlled trade, customs duties, rumors โ and destiny.
รze was not a pretty village for painters and flรขneurs, but a guard post. Fortification โ Savoy’s systematic policy of fortification โ turned the rock into a bastion. Rings of walls snaked around the summit like stone serpents; narrow gates, built so that no assault could easily break them, forced attackers into tight angles. A keep rose above the roofs, watchful like a stone eye over the Mediterranean. The houses themselves were part of the defense: densely built, with hardly any gaps, narrow alleys that resembled embrasures rather than streets. Those who fought here fought step by step.
Savoy fortified not out of vanity, but out of necessity. The coast was contested. The Counts of Provence looked covetously upon the strategic heights. Later, the French crown pressed in, and from the east, the influence of the Italian powers grew. รze was a border post in a game whose rules were constantly changing.
The fighting rarely took the form of large, decisive battles. It came in the form of dawn raids, sieges that lasted for weeks, and betrayals behind half-open gates. According to chronicles from the region, a Savoyard garrison once held out for months while enemy troops cut off the water supply. They lived on supplies, salted fish, and whatever the cisterns yielded. Thirst was the invisible besieger.
But Savoy knew how to hold its ground. The dukes โ from Amadeus to their successors โ invested in stone rather than splendor. While cathedrals grew elsewhere, bastions grew here. The walls of รze were reinforced, towers raised, embrasures adapted to the new art of gunpowder. With the advent of artillery, the rock also changed: the ramparts had to be lower, thicker, and more resistant. War wrote its technical evolution into the limestone.
And yet the village was more than just a garrison. Between the alarm calls, everyday life revolved around olive oil, fishing, and pious processions. The people knew that they were living on a threshold. Their identity was not a fixed banner, but a fabric of dialects, alliances, and survival strategies. Sometimes they spoke of the Savoyard lord with loyalty, sometimes with cautious distance. For power, they had learned, is never final in border regions.
In the 16th century, when the great European conflicts reached the coast, รze once again became a pawn. Tensions between Savoy and France escalated, and the region around Nice was fought over several times. The walls of รze saw banners change, heard commands in different languages. Each party promised protection; each demanded loyalty.
It is said that after a particularly fierce battle, parts of the fortifications were severely damaged. But even in ruins, the place remained a symbol. The rock itself was the real fortress โ ancient, unyielding, indifferent to the changing rulers. Savoy may have ruled, France may have pressed, but the stone outlasted them all.
When you walk through รze today, between galleries and gardens, you can only see fragments of that defensibility. But in the narrowness of the alleys, in the abrupt drop of the cliffs, in the view down to the wide sea, that old logic still remains: whoever stands up here has gained time.
And perhaps that is the real story of Savoy in รzeโnot triumph or defeat, but the steadfast holding of a rock against the turmoil of the world.
in Deutsch:
Zwischen Nizza und Monaco erhebt sich, wie ein trotziges Gebet aus Stein, das Dorf รze. Wer heute den steilen Pfad hinaufsteigt, ahnt vielleicht noch den Atem der Jahrhunderte โ das Knirschen von Stiefeln auf Kalk, das ferne Donnern von Geschรผtzen, das Flรผstern von Loyalitรคten, die im Wind wechselten wie die Fahnen auf den Zinnen.
Im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert gehรถrte dieses felsige Nest zur Herzogtum Savoyen, jener eigenwilligen Macht zwischen Alpen und Meer, die weder ganz italienisch noch ganz franzรถsisch war, sondern ein Grenzreich โ zรคh, ehrgeizig, misstrauisch. Savoyen wusste um den Wert von Hรถhen. Wer die Berge hielt, hielt die Wege. Und wer die Wege hielt, kontrollierte den Handel, die Zรถlle, die Gerรผchte โ und das Schicksal.
รze war kein schmuckes Dorf fรผr Maler und Flaneure, sondern eine Wache. Die Fortesierung โ jene systematische Befestigungspolitik Savoyens โ machte aus dem Felsen eine Bastion. Mauerringe schlangen sich um den Gipfel wie steinerne Schlangen; schmale Tore, so gebaut, dass kein Sturmangriff sie leicht brechen konnte, zwangen Angreifer in enge Winkel. Ein Donjon erhob sich รผber die Dรคcher, wachsam wie ein steinernes Auge รผber dem Mittelmeer. Die Hรคuser selbst waren Teil der Verteidigung: dicht gebaut, kaum Zwischenrรคume, schmale Gassen, die eher Scharten als Straรen glichen. Wer hier kรคmpfte, kรคmpfte Schritt um Schritt.
Savoyen befestigte nicht aus Eitelkeit, sondern aus Not. Die Kรผste war umkรคmpft. Die Grafen von Provence blickten mit Begehrlichkeit auf die strategischen Hรถhen. Spรคter drรคngte die franzรถsische Krone, und von Osten her wuchs der Einfluss der italienischen Mรคchte. รze war Grenzposten in einem Spiel, dessen Regeln sich stรคndig รคnderten.
Die Kรคmpfe kamen selten als groรe, entscheidende Schlacht. Sie kamen als รberfรคlle im Morgengrauen, als Belagerungen, die Wochen dauerten, als Verrat hinter halb geรถffneten Toren. Einmal โ so berichten Chroniken aus der Region โ soll eine savoyische Garnison monatelang ausgeharrt haben, wรคhrend feindliche Truppen die Wasserzufuhr kappten. Man lebte von Vorrรคten, von gesalzenem Fisch, von dem, was die Zisternen hergaben. Der Durst war der unsichtbare Belagerer.
Doch Savoyen verstand es, seine Hรถhen zu halten. Die Herzรถge โ von Amadeus bis zu ihren Nachfolgern โ investierten in Stein statt in Pracht. Wรคhrend anderswo Kathedralen wuchsen, wuchsen hier Bastionen. Die Mauern von รze wurden verstรคrkt, Tรผrme erhรถht, Schieรscharten an die neue Kunst des Pulvers angepasst. Mit dem Aufkommen der Artillerie verรคnderte sich auch der Fels: niedriger, dicker, widerstandsfรคhiger mussten die Wรคlle sein. Der Krieg schrieb seine technische Evolution in den Kalkstein.
Und doch war das Dorf mehr als Garnison. Zwischen den Alarmrufen lebte ein Alltag aus Olivenรถl, Fischfang und frommen Prozessionen. Die Menschen wussten, dass sie auf einer Schwelle lebten. Ihre Identitรคt war kein festes Banner, sondern ein Gewebe aus Dialekten, Bรผndnissen, รberlebensstrategien. Mal sprach man vom savoyischen Herrn mit Loyalitรคt, mal mit vorsichtiger Distanz. Denn Macht, das hatte man gelernt, ist in Grenzregionen nie endgรผltig.
Im 16. Jahrhundert, als die groรen europรคischen Konflikte die Kรผste erreichten, wurde รze erneut zum Spielball. Die Spannungen zwischen Savoyen und Frankreich eskalierten, und die Region um Nizza wurde mehrfach umkรคmpft. Die Mauern von รze sahen Banner wechseln, hรถrten Befehle in verschiedenen Zungen. Jede Partei versprach Schutz; jede forderte Treue.
Es heiรt, dass nach einem besonders heftigen Gefecht Teile der Befestigung schwer beschรคdigt wurden. Doch selbst in Trรผmmern blieb der Ort Symbol. Der Fels selbst war die eigentliche Festung โ uralt, unbeugsam, gleichgรผltig gegenรผber den wechselnden Herren. Savoyen mochte herrschen, Frankreich mochte drรคngen, doch der Stein รผberdauerte sie alle.
Wenn man heute durch รze geht, zwischen Galerien und Gรคrten, sieht man nur noch Fragmente jener Wehrhaftigkeit. Doch in der Enge der Gassen, im abrupten Abbruch der Klippen, im Blick hinunter auf das weite Meer liegt noch immer jene alte Logik: Wer hier oben steht, hat Zeit gewonnen.
Und vielleicht ist das die eigentliche Geschichte Savoyens in รze โ nicht Triumph oder Niederlage, sondern das beharrliche Halten eines Felsens gegen die Unruhe der Welt.
We did this full-day train experience through the Alps from Nice, and it completely surprised us in the best way. We met early in the morning at the main train station, grabbed a quick coffee, and then boarded the mountain train that slowly climbed into the Alps. The ride itself was incredible, winding through narrow canyons, tunnels, and over high viaducts, with nonstop views of valleys, rivers, and tiny villages tucked into the mountains. Our guide shared stories and pointed out details along the way, which made the journey even more interesting and helped us understand what we were seeing instead of just passing through it.
Once we reached the Roya Valley, we started exploring a couple of medieval villages, including Saorge and Tende. Walking through the narrow stone streets, small squares, and quiet corners felt like stepping into another time. We visited old churches, took in sweeping mountain views, and even did a short hike that led to some really peaceful spots overlooking the valley. Lunch was simple and relaxed, with local food that tasted even better after a morning of walking and fresh mountain air. Everything was well-paced, and there was a nice balance between exploring, learning, and just enjoying the scenery.
What stood out most was how different this day felt compared to the busy coastal towns. It was calm, scenic, and refreshing, and the logistics were completely taken care of, which made it easy to just enjoy the experience. Planning this kind of route on our own with trains, buses, and village connections would have been complicated, so having a guide and a clear plan made a huge difference. If you want a break from the Riviera crowds and love scenic train rides, mountain views, and quiet villages, this is such a memorable way to spend a day.
This theme documents three centuries of German emigration. Letters and diaries bring to life stories of people fleeing religious persecution, hunger, and the pursuit of freedom. The journey takes us from war-torn Europe to America and the Volga River.
Hier ein begleitendes Wort zum neuen Buch โZwischen Sehnsucht und Machtโ โWie Romantik und Idealismus die deutsche Geschichte prรคgten von Klaus Kampe. Es geht um eine Warnung vor den Auswรผchsen von Idealismus und Romantik in der heutigen Zeit. Das Buch stรผtzt sich auf historische und philosophische Analysen, die zeigen, wie die Sehnsucht nach einer โhรถheren Ordnungโ oder โWiederverzauberungโ der Welt in gefรคhrliche Irrationalitรคt oder Totalitarismus umschlagen kann.
Hier ist ein Entwurf:
Die Geschichte der deutschen Romantik lehrt uns, dass der Versuch, die Welt durch reine Poesie oder Idealismus zu heilen, oft mit einer gefรคhrlichen Realitรคtsferne einhergeht. Wenn das โromantische Subjektโ die Welt nur noch als Anlass fรผr seine eigene Produktivitรคt und Stimmung nutzt, droht eine politische Handlungsunfรคhigkeit oder eine bloรe Simulation von Wirksamkeit.
Besonders im Kontext moderner Groรprojekte wie dem Green Deal oder radikaler Umweltbewegungen besteht die Gefahr, dass die Vernunft in Unvernunft und Aufklรคrung in einen neuen Mythos umschlรคgt. Adorno und Horkheimer warnten in ihrer โDialektik der Aufklรคrungโ bereits davor, dass eine total verwaltete Welt keine wahre Freiheit schafft, sondern neue Formen der Unterwerfung, in denen der Einzelne zugunsten einer vermeintlich hรถheren kollektiven Notwendigkeit nichts mehr zรคhlt.
Kritische Punkte der Warnung:
โข Der รคsthetische Aristokratismus: Idealisten neigen dazu, ihre Visionen รผber die profanen Bedรผrfnisse der โMasseโ zu stellen, was zu einer Entfremdung von der sozialen Realitรคt fรผhrt.
โข Die โstรคhlerne Romantikโ der Planung: Carl Schmitt warnte vor den Paradiesen einer durchgeplanten Welt, die durch entfesselte Produktivkraft eine โSozialschrankeโ errichtet, die den Menschen nicht mehr erkennt, sondern ihn gewaltsam verรคndern will.
โข Verlust der Dezision (Entscheidungsfรคhigkeit): Romantiker verweilen oft im รคsthetischen โMรผรiggangโ und scheitern an der Notwendigkeit klarer politischer Unterscheidungen, was sie anfรคllig fรผr die Instrumentalisierung durch fremde Mรคchte macht.
โข Der โKrankheitskeimโ im Ideal: Wie Thomas Mann 1945 ausfรผhrte, trรคgt die Romantik oft einen Keim in sich, der die Hingabe an das Irrationale und eine weltfremde Tiefe รผber die demokratische Nรผchternheit stellt.
Man muss daher wachsam gegenรผber Bewegungen sein, die das Politische in โRausch und Mysteriumโ zurรผckverwandeln wollen. Eine Politik, die nur noch auf Gefรผhl, Erweckung und utopischem Schein basiert, verliert den Boden der rechtlichen und rationalen Normen und bereitet so den Weg fรผr eine neue Barbarei.
Es gilt, die Romantik als Korrektiv der Moderne zu nutzen, ohne sie zur Staatsideologie zu erheben, da sie sonst unweigerlich in der Katastrophe endet.
How romanticism and idealism shaped German history โ from early romanticism to the world wars โ the new book by Klaus Kampe
Excerpt:
Foreword:
Intellectual epochs are often either aesthetically idealized or morally simplified. Romanticism is no exception. In popular portrayals, it appears as a poetic counterpoint to the sobriety of modernity; in critical readings, however, it is seen as an irrational precursor to nationalist ideologies. Both perspectives fall short. They underestimate the structural depth of Romantic thinking as well as its long-term social impact.
The central thesis of this book is therefore that German Romanticism was neither politically innocent nor historically deterministic, but rather an ambivalent intellectual resource whose motives could have productive or destructive effects depending on the social and political context.
In this study, Romanticism is understood not primarily as a literary style, but as a form of mentality: as a specific way of interpreting the world, creating meaning, and conceiving the relationship between the individual, the community, and history. In this sense, it transcends its actual epoch and continues to have an impact across generationsโoften in a transformed, politically charged form.
Historically, Romanticism arose from multiple experiences of loss. The Enlightenment had shaken traditional religious certainties, the French Revolution had radically questioned the political order, and the onset of industrialization had changed people’s relationship to work, nature, and time. In Germany, political participation was largely denied. The result was a shift: where political power was lacking, cultural self-interpretation became central. Inner life, emotion, and symbolism took on a significance that was more strongly tied to institutions elsewhere.
This shift is crucial to understanding further developments. Romanticism initially articulated a legitimate critique of rationalism, mechanization, and alienation. It insisted on meaning, wholeness, and individualityโneeds that modern societies systematically generate but do not always satisfy. At the same time, however, Romantic thinking contained a structural openness to exaggeration: from emotion to truth, from community to destiny, from history to myth.
During the 19th century, romantic motifs became increasingly collectivized. The search for individual meaning shifted to national and cultural identity concepts. Poetic longing became cultural self-assertion, aesthetic wholeness became the idea of an organic people. This process was neither uniform nor inevitable, but it created patterns of interpretation that could become politically effective in the 20th century.
The enthusiasm for the First World War, especially in educated middle-class circles, can hardly be explained without these emotional and aesthetic dispositions. For many, the war appeared not only as a political event, but as an existential test, a place of meaning and renewal. Romantic ideals of sacrifice, devotion, and transcendence became intertwined with modern structures of power and technologyโwith devastating consequences.
This ambivalence becomes even more apparent in National Socialism. The Nazi regime was deeply modern and rationalized in its organization, administration, and machinery of destruction. At the same time, it made deliberate use of romantic imagery, myths, and narratives of redemption. Romanticism functioned here not as an origin, but as a symbolic reservoir that could be emotionally mobilized. It is precisely this instrumentality that makes critical examination necessary.
Against this backdrop, this book deliberately avoids establishing a simple causality between Romanticism and political violence. Instead, it inquires into mediations: into modes of thought, emotions, and cultural dispositions that could become politically radicalized under certain conditions. What is decisive here is not so much Romanticism itself as the way it is dealt withโin particular, the lack of self-reflection, irony, and institutional embedding.
This historical analysis raises a further question of social theory: What role does Romantic idealism play in modern societies? Is it a necessary correction to technical rationalityโor a permanent risk of overburdening political reality with moral or aesthetic claims to absoluteness? And finally: What is the relationship between Romantic thinking and social conformity? Does it enable individual freedom within social order, or does it necessarily produce tension, withdrawal, or radicalization?
The following chapters explore these questions historically, analytically, and critically. The aim is not to condemn an era, but to understand a way of thinking that is still effective todayโprecisely because it touches on fundamental human needs.
A warning against the excesses of idealism and romanticism in today’s world can be based on historical and philosophical analyses that show how the longing for a โhigher orderโ or โre-enchantmentโ of the world can turn into dangerous irrationality or totalitarianism.
The history of German Romanticism teaches us that attempts to heal the world through pure poetry or idealism often go hand in hand with a dangerous detachment from reality. When the โromantic subjectโ uses the world solely as a source of inspiration for its own productivity and mood, there is a risk of political paralysis or a mere simulation of effectiveness.
Particularly in the context of modern large-scale projects such as the Green Deal or radical environmental movements, there is a danger that reason will turn into unreason and enlightenment into a new myth. In their โDialectic of Enlightenment,โ Adorno and Horkheimer already warned that a totally administered world does not create true freedom, but rather new forms of subjugation in which the individual no longer counts in favor of a supposedly higher collective necessity.
Critical points of the warning:
Aesthetic aristocratism: Idealists tend to place their visions above the mundane needs of the โmasses,โ which leads to alienation from social reality.
The โsteel romanticismโ of planning: Carl Schmitt warned against the paradises of a thoroughly planned world, which, through unleashed productive forces, erects a โsocial barrierโ that no longer recognizes human beings but seeks to change them by force.
Loss of decisiveness (ability to make decisions): Romantics often linger in aesthetic โidlenessโ and fail to make clear political distinctions, which makes them susceptible to exploitation by foreign powers.
The โgerm of diseaseโ in the ideal: As Thomas Mann explained in 1945, romanticism often carries within it a germ that places devotion to the irrational and an unworldly depth above democratic sobriety.
One must therefore be vigilant against movements that seek to transform politics back into โintoxication and mystery.โ Politics based solely on emotion, revivalism, and utopian illusions loses its footing in legal and rational norms, paving the way for a new barbarism.
Romanticism should be used as a corrective to modernity, without elevating it to state ideology, as this would inevitably lead to catastrophe.
