A couple days into our Germany trip, we headed out of Munich and up into the mountains. We spent a day in the impossibly beautiful town of Berchtesgaden. Berchtesgaden is a perfect alpine town, surprisingly calm and nestled in between high mountains shrouded in mist. The legend says that the angels charged with distributing wonders the world over received the command to hurry up. Rushing forward, they dumped all the wonders in Berchtesgaden before continuing on to the rest of the world.
And when you are in this place, you feel that, the excess of beauty all around you.
One of the top things I had wanted to visit in Berchetsgaden was the crystal clear waters of the Königssee. We took a boat across the waters — startlingly emerald even though it was a foggy day where we couldn’t even see the top halves of the mountains around us. Halfway across the lake, the captain stopped the boat and took out a trumpet. He played a beautiful song across the water, pausing after each line as the music echoed seven times around us. By the end of the song, so many lines were echoing together and it was so beautiful, that I cried. On the other side of the lake, we docked on the shores of St Bartholomä. We walked around the tiny chapel, soaked in the stillness of the empty meadows, and settled into a cheery inn for cake and hot chocolate. It was the perfect incarnation of Gemütlichkeit– that blend of coziness and well-being that lacks an English equivalent.
But I am not the only one to find Berchtesgaden alluring. As I shared in an Instagram post of this beautiful place, it was also where Hitler chose to build his personal retreat, perched high above the valley. It is a place so beautiful that it is hard to imagine that it was at the heart of some of the greatest evil, the greatest ugliness that the world has ever known. But it was. And when you are in this place, you feel that, a history of darkness looming over you.
Throughout my time in Europe, I started working way through some of the theoretical texts that I will use in my dissertation. In one of them, George Steiner talks about the truth that the Holocaust forces us to face, the truth that beauty, the humanities, good books and lovely ideas, did not stave off evil. It is naive to thing that those who surround themselves with beauty are incapable of darkness, and Steiner painfully illustrates that. History illustrates that. Berctesgaden illustrates that. Sometimes beauty and darkness dwell closer together than we like to think.
Dostoyevsky famously wrote that “Beauty will save the world,” and I desperately want to believe him, because it is a deeply nice thing to believe. But it didn’t. It won’t. Standing atop the misty mountains in Berchtesgaden, I was reminded of that. Truth will, Christ will, and sometimes it seems far from beautiful in the moment. But truth always leads to something far more beautiful than anything we could imagine.
I’m not sorry that we visited Berchtesgaden, that we toured Dachau, that we had somber sights and thoughts mixed in with the fun and beauty of our trip. The memory of darkness is important, because it helps you prevent it from coming back, strengthens you against it. Standing on the shores of the Köningssee, I kept on thinking that the blend of beauty and darkness in this place is a reminder of what we all experience every day. All of humanity, all of creation, all of this world, is fallen. But all of creation, every last site where something awful happened, will experience redemption someday. Maybe the beauty we see now, however mixed with darkness it is, is just a little foretaste of that.
The Art in Life 
Hannah, this is a stunning piece of writing that builds on your thoughtful Instagram post a few weeks ago. I have been thinking a lot about the intersection of Truth and Beauty lately and what that means theologically. And I think you hit the nail on the head: that beauty can lead us to truth but can’t fulfill it on its own — that we are called to the Truth and Beauty that can only be found in Christ. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Brigid! I felt bad repeating what I grammed… but I just can’t stop thinking about it!
So beautiful! May we always pursue truth in order to gain beauty. So glad you’ve enjoyed your visit in my country (I even prayed for that once, is that weird for you? haha) Lots of love across the pond!
It is not weird at all! Or maybe it is… but it is AWESOME!!!
This post really touched me. Thank you for making me think this morning.
So glad it got you thinking!
Oh my. I was in Berchtesgaden maybe 35 or so years ago. Your photographs brought back some lovely memories. Somewhere around this house, I also have a photograph of the church on the Konigsee. How time flies. I’m glad you enjoyed your trip and thanks for the memories.
It is such a beautiful area! I really think that — in spite of everything — Königssee was my very favorite place that we went.
This is stunning–the scenery, sure, but your words?
One of the nuggets of truth I hold on to from all my years of youth group and Christian school was something along the lines of how you end this piece: the beauty we see, all the good things, those are our tastes of heaven, here.
I love that- so true!
So true, and very well put! And I love the pictures. 🙂
Your words on how beauty and darkness dwell closer together than we realize but of how truth can redeem even in those places are exactly how I felt while standing on the USS Arizone site in Oahu. It was so strange to contemplate the reality of that burial site and what happened amidst such a beautiful day in amazing surroundings that echoed a life continued. It felt like reminders of grace and God’s goodness over such complexity. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Oh wow – I can imagine how powerful that was!
These pictures and words stir something deep within. I think because the truth of such beauty mixed with such a history is something we can all relate to. Our lives are a mixture of beauty and pain, good and evil within us. The darkness makes the light that much more bright. Our brokenness makes the beauty of redemption and grace so much sweeter.
Hi Hannah,
I have been reading your blog for years and really love it. I came across it when my best friend said, “You have to read this blog! This girl is just like you!” I am as sure as she is, but I have to say, I am surely not an expert on French literature nor do I have quite the eye for photography, but I do love a good brunch, art, and primary colors. I am teacher too, but for the little ones with dirty fingers and bright eyes.
Anyway, I have been wanting to start a blog for sometime now and decided to finally take the plunge (in the middle of grad school no less) and was wondering if I could use one of the pictures from this post as my header image. I totally want to give you credit but also do not know how plagiarism works in the blogosphere. Either answer is fine, just thought I would ask and see.
Thanks!
Karly
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