Access to the treasures is hidden. To get to them, you first have to go through the current exhibition on knights and their orders in the Querfurt Castle Museum, which will be on display until 2025. You pass four suits of armor on the left, but a heavy, black curtain blocks the way. “Just pull it to the side,” says Jan Stenzel. The 40-year-old knows where to go in Querfurt Castle. After all, he is the museologist of the medieval fortress in the Saalekreis. And indeed: Behind the curtain, a steep staircase leads up to an iron door. The depot has been reached. Furniture and paintings, weapons and coats of arms are stored here – the castle’s treasures. And these also include the contents of several banana boxes and leather chests: It is the estate of Hans Schomburgk, which his granddaughter bequeathed to the castle museum in 2022.
Hans Schomburgk is far less well known today than he was in the 1950s and 1960s. Back then, the Hamburg native, who lived from 1880 to 1967, toured all over Germany as an Africa expert – in both the West and the East. “In the GDR he was even a little better known,” says Jan Stenzel. The historian is actually a specialist in the Middle Ages. Since he came to Querfurt in 2021, however, he has had to expand his knowledge southwards as well. Now Stenzel is an expert on Kenyan art and Togolese traditions – thanks to Hans Schomburgk.
Known as Filmburg
This African reference is a rarity in the castle landscape. The Querfurt fortress is actually famous for other themes. It is nicknamed the film castle because it is regularly used as a backdrop for filming. The Hollywood production “The Physician” was filmed in the walls, as was the last DEFA fairytale film “Light of Love” with Rolf Hoppe and the literary adaptation “The Popess”. “Most recently, a team shot for The Robber Hotzenplotz in 2022,” says Stenzel.
Jan Stenzel with exhibits from the Schomburgk collection
(Photo: Julius Lukas)
What attracts the directors and actors is the large amount of space and the wealth of historical buildings. “We have one of the oldest and largest fortresses in central Germany here,” explains Stenzel. The Wartburg near Eisenach (Thuringia) would fit seven times on the grounds of the Querfurt fortress. The building ensemble is also varied. There are fortifications and the almost 1,000-year-old keep, a castle church, the prince’s hall, underground passages and stables and a bastion that has towered over the surrounding area since the 15th century. “It is rare to find something so well preserved,” says Stenzel.
Seat of the Lords of Querfurt
The diversity is a result of the history of the castle. The complex was first mentioned in 883. From the tenth century onwards, the Lords of Querfurt lived in the walls for 500 years, and continued to expand them. “Representatives of this family were at times burgraves of Magdeburg and made it into the highest circles,” explains museum expert Stenzel. In the 14th century, the fortress reached its greatest importance, but then the Querfurt family died out and the lords of the castle changed: During the Thirty Years’ War, the Swedes moved in after causing great destruction during sieges. This was followed by the House of Saxe-Weissenfels and finally Prussia, where the castle was downgraded to a country domain, a noble residence with agricultural duties. After the Second World War, it was temporarily a polyclinic and children’s home, until the museum use took priority. However, there is still mixed use today. A music school is housed on the site. And a development concept presented this week aims to establish a hostel and a film academy on the historic site.
Armor parts in the Querfurt Castle depot
(photo: Julius Lukas)
Back to the depot, where Jan Stenzel leaves the banana boxes and chests containing Hans Schomburgk’s estate in the corner and goes into the next room. It is cool there, and there are humidity meters on the shelves. This is where the sensitive exhibits from the Querfurt collection are stored. These include vessels made from calabash gourds, shields covered with rhinoceros skin, and the headdresses of African shamans. “These are the 48 exhibits that Schomburgk donated to the Querfurt Museum in 1959,” explains Jan Stenzel. They are pieces that he brought back from his trips to Africa.
Big game hunter and animal exporter
He was fascinated by the continent. At just 18, Schomburgk joined the British military, where he was deployed as a geographer in Africa. In addition to land surveying, he later began hunting big game. Schomburgk also made a business out of selling African animals to zoos in Europe, such as pygmy hippos. “Above all, he wrote books and made many films about Africa,” says Jan Stenzel. The globetrotter traveled to the southern continent countless times, visiting countries such as Zambia, Togo and Liberia. The author, who lives in West Berlin, shared his experiences on lecture tours. “He was business-minded and earned quite a bit of money from it,” says Jan Stenzel. “And he became a kind of Africa explainer for the Germans.”
Presentation of the honorary citizenship certificate to Hans Schomburgk (left) by Querfurt Mayor Lothar Schott on July 29, 1959.
(Photo: Collection: Museum Burg Querfurt)
The connection to Querfurt was a family one. His uncle lived in the town, where the Schomburgk family can be traced back to the 17th and 18th centuries and even had a mayor. “He often spent his holidays here as a child,” says Stenzel. That’s why he felt connected to Querfurt and donated part of his collection to the local museum. “He was then made an honorary citizen of the town.”
Visit from Togo
For a long time, the 48 exhibits were shown as a permanent exhibition in the so-called “Schomburgk Show” in the Querfurt Castle Museum. For several years, however, they have been stored in the depot. In 2021, there was a research project in which a scientist examined the exhibits, categorized them and explored their origins. “Two sensitive objects were also identified,” says Stenzel. This refers to a drum and a mask, which are suspected of not having come into Schomburgk’s possession through fair channels. “From the diaries of his second wife, it appears that these two objects were sold by the locals under pressure and that the price was probably not appropriate.” However, another project is needed to investigate the circumstances in more detail and to clarify whether restitution, i.e. returning the objects, would be appropriate.
The estate of Hans Schomburgk lies dormant in these boxes.
(Photo: Julius Lukas)
Jan Stenzel would also like to see further discussion of the person of Hans Schomburgk and his estate, which the African traveler’s granddaughter bequeathed to the museum in December 2022, shortly before her death. Little has been done to date on how Schomburgk, who came to Africa as a colonialist, worked there. “But especially in his later books and films,” says Jan Stenzel, “you notice that he increasingly critically examined the effects of colonialism on the nature and people of Africa.”
If Jan Stenzel could choose, he would like a project that would process the discoverer’s entire legacy – no less than 3,500 photos, 150 film reels, diaries and numerous publications and personal items that are slumbering in the banana boxes and chests. “This could then lead to a new Schomburgk exhibition,” says the museologist. In keeping with the Filmburg, this show will focus on the film works of the honorary citizen of Querfurt. Because they are full of undiscovered treasures. “Last year we even had a scientist from Togo visit us,” says Stenzel. He looked at many photos and recordings. “Because they show rituals that no longer exist today, but which Hans Schomburgk had recorded.”
