Hölderlin Tower

The Hölderlin Tower is named after the poet Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843). In that tower he lived during the second half of his life, from 1806 to 1843. It is the place where his last poems were composed, often signed under the pseudonym »Scardanelli«. While living there, he used to be visited by contemporaries, admirers and other authors.

Nowadays, Hölderlin is considered one of the most important German-speaking poets. The tower in which he spent the last 36 years of his life represents one of the most significant literary places of rememberance worldwide. Moreover, his works have been adapted to numerous works of literature, music and art.

The permanent exhibition of the museum is dedicated to the periods of Hölderlin’s life, which he spend in Tübingen: His study years at the Protestant Seminary (Evangelisches Stift) (1788-1793), and the last 36 years of his life in the tower with the family of the carpenter Ernst Zimmer. Among other things, the exhibition provides insight into Hölderlin’s friendship with the later philosophers Hegel and Schelling, which were his theology course mates in Tübingen, as well as Hölderlin’s first publications in that period. The exhibition brings attention to the beauty of Hölderlin's so-called ›Tower-poems‹ (which he has written while living in the tower), and offers a sensory experience of his experimentations with language and rhythm.

But the exhibition goes beyond the poems written in Tübingen and observes Hölderlin's whole literary oeuvre. Numerous literary, musical and artistic examples highlight Hölderlin’s ongoing significance – from his to our days. The alternating special exhibitions shed light on Hölderlin’s life and works from various perspectives. Artists, researchers, and readers share their perceptions of the poet and approaches to his works.

There is a media guide available for the tour through the permanent exhibition. It includes an English audio tour and translations of all the exhibition texts. The media guide can be borrowed at the museums checkout area or downloaded on one's phone. The audio tour permits the visitors to follow their own path through the exhibition, either room by room or from one object to the next.

There is a recurring icon with a number next to each exhibition text. When the number is typed into the media guide, the matching translation for the given room- and object-texts appears. The English texts panels can also be read sequentially room by room.

The garden is a part of the Hölderlin Tower. During Hölderlin’s lifetime, it belonged to the clinic across the street. That same clinic where Hölderlin received psychiatric treatment in the period from September 1805 to May 1806. He was diagnosed as mentally ill and received compulsory treatment for 231 days. The treatment recommended the poet to take walks, most likely in this very garden, adjunct to his later living quarters. After the dismissal from the clinic, Hölderlin was taken as a tenant in the tower, which was at the time home of the carpenter Ernst Zimmer.

The permanent exhibition extends into the museum's garden. Hölderlin was very keen on talking walks – as a matter of a fact, he composed many of his poems while walking. The pathway in the garden was therefore specially designed for taking walks while listening to three different poems in three different speeds.

Select one of the three poems on the media guide and you will be able to choose the way you want the poem to be read: moderate, paced or fast. Then start walking along the path and try to determine which speed fits the poem best. When the poem is read out loud slowly, you have more time to reach the end of the path. When the poem is read out loud fast, you must hurry to reach the end of the path simultaneously with the end of the poem.

• Wikipedia
• Friedrich Hölderlin: Poems and fragments, translated by Michael Hamburger with a preface, introduction and notes. 4th bilingual edition, London 2005.
• David Constantine: Hölderlin, Oxford 1990.
• We are like fire: Waiblinger & Hesse on Hölderlin, translated and with an introduction by Eric Miller, Victoria, BC 2007.
• Roy C. Shelton: The Young Hoelderlin, Frankfurt a.M. 1973.