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“Pillars of Power”: Precious original exhibits in the Landesmuseum Mainz

The power of the emperors and kings in the Middle Ages was a power out of the saddle, says Bernd Schneidmüller, historian and scientific director of the exhibition “The emperors and the pillars of their power” in the Landesmuseum Mainz. The most important pillar of their power was the direct contact with other dignitaries and citizens.

Consensus as a guarantee of power

In an “eye society” like the Middle Ages, the important “building of consensus” between the different groups of dignitaries would not have been possible without this contact – this consensus between clerical and secular princes and later also the bourgeoisie guaranteed the power of the rulers in the first place.

“Wherever the emperor can no longer go, he will simply be forgotten.”

Bernd Schneidmüller, historian

According to Schneidmüller, the Kaiserreich was an “empire without a capital”, but there were still central locations – especially in the Rhineland – where people regularly met those involved in the exercise of power.

Precious loans from all over Europe

The exhibition in the state museum is a “show of the originals”, stresses Schneidmüller, with loans from important museums and historical collections from all over Europe. Although modern media are integrated into the concept, a central idea remains that the Middle Ages themselves were a time without the distance of media communication, which is reflected in the exhibition.

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