My mind has wandered all over the place today thinking about what to post tonight. However, when I got home from work and checked the mail my wanderings came to a halt. I had an idea for a post that brought together several of my wanderings.

In my mailbox tonight was the latest copy of Mededelingenblad (MLB), which is the quarterly news leter for the Club van Ankervrienden. You may have seen some of my posts in the past about one of my favorite hobbies: Building with Ankerstein

I had actually been thinking of Ankerstein on my drive home and had been thinking that I had not checked out the latest builder’s page at George Hardy’s Ankerstein website. When I checked the page I found that the featured building was Badenlye Castle, which was modeled after a structure in England that reminded me of the Wartburg in Eisenach, Germany.

Of course, I had been thinking about the Wartburg since my post about Reformation Day. The Wartburg is where Martin Luther hid out after the Council of Worms.

In my packet with the MLB was the program for the bi-annual member meeting in Hilversum, Netherlands and I saw that two of the members had given a lecture about “The Wartburg.”

I then remembered some pictures that I had taken in Rudolstadt, Germany when visiting the Richtersche Villa back in 2005. Here we have a large model of the Wartburg that is built with Ankerstein. Here the stones are actually glued together rather than simply being held together with friction. I don’t remember the number of stones that were used to build this model, but I am sure that my friend George Hardy would know. I might just have to send him an e-mail and find out. I was with George in Rudolstadt for a Treffen or visitor’s day at the Ankerstein factory and we went to visit the villa while we were there.
The detail in the model is amazing. This was a special treat to me, as I had visited the Wartburg a couple years earlier. I could just imagine myself walking through the Wartburg again as I looked at this model. It was a very good representation of the Wartburg and showed the versatility of Ankerstein as a building material for hobbyists.

I am now curious about the lecture that was given at the meeting a couple weeks ago. I know that the villa has been sold and that this model has probably found a new home. I would like to know where it has been moved. Perhaps you will see an update from me in the future. I am sure that there will be an article in the next MLB, or I can probably just ask George who was one of the lecturers.

I hope that you enjoyed this interesting look at History and also at one of my hobbies.

Steven