Installation, 2007
Palace garden Wiesenburg

23 Acrystal objects, text board

In Co-operation with Roland Albrecht

The following excerpts from letters of the young lord of the castle, Curt Friedrich Ernst von Watzdorf, were written to his peer and friend Joachim Ernst von Hardenburg from 1863 – 1867.

5th August 1863: "... it seems to me that fate has burdend me with far too heavy a weight – a weight which appears to be ingrained in this place. It is told that the old house tutor Balthasar Wilhelm Rübling, who was employed as a teacher here in the castle, was overpowered by an unhappy and unfulfilled love affair with the Lady of the Castle. According to the tale he went into the forest to loose his senses of desire and longing. There along the old hunting trail he lay down each of his senses all a victim of love. Oh Joachim, my good friend, will I be spared this path? You know my love also remains unheard and must stay unfulfilled..."

1st September 1863: "Joachim will hapiness ever arrive here in this place? Yesterday afternoon I found the old tutors senses. My forester led me to a spot half way in the forest halfway on the edge of the path to the pink coloured shapes which can be found there since the tutor took his departure."

15th. October 1863: "Dearest friend, I was in Kreuznach in order to be closer to her. All my senses are filled with her and a longing which controls all my thoughts and feelings. I go daily to the senses they appear to exist peacefully in and with nature..."

4th. May 1864: "... will now travel - France, England, Italy in order to get ideas for the garden as well as disperse my lovesickness. My doctor has recommended it. I have farewelled myself from Rübling's senses but will carry them with me in my heart."

6th. August 1866: "Dear friend, am suffering from a nervous condition, the doctors are at a loss. My garden which takes on more form shall be soley dedicated to her the most beautiful. My forester works well...he leaves the old hunting path as is... the spirits which live in these sensual shapes should be allowed to rest and not be awoken..."

9th Mai 1867: "Joachim, it was good to see you with the Hussars in Jüterbog. We Hussars are the crown of the army. It is amazing that I don't think about her during the short time I am with you... I am my old self..."

The "Museum of Unrequited Love" preserves 87 letters belonging to Curt Friedrich Ernst von Watzdorf. Almost all deal with the topic of unrequited love or the discarded senses. Traces of the then private tutor Balthasar Wilhelm Rübling were found in 1999. He went to Geislingen as a preacher in 1802, married the commoner Martha Gäbele and led a quiet and unpretentious life. Today the inscription on his gravestone would remain a mystery to anyone not knowing the previous history: "May god reward those who have lost their senses."
Curt Friedrich Ernst von Watzdorf took part in the war of 1870/71 as a Hussar officer. His nervous condition became increasingly severe until he died in 1881, aged 43, partly as result of his bad nerves but also due an unhappy love affair. Despite these misfortunes he was in full possession of his senses. Apparently his last words were "love outlasts, let them stay in the park where they are." He arranged that he be laid to rest in the park.