Vom Jammertal ins Paradies (From the Vale of Tears to Paradise), ed. E. Reinhold Verlag, was originally planned as a catalogue to accompany an exhibition at the Altenburg Castle and Playing Cards Museum, exploring the early modern funeral and memorial culture of the ducal court of Saxe-Altenburg. The exhibition was postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the book went ahead as an independent publication. It was reviewed by Martin Spies in Church Monuments XXXVI.

We now have good news regarding this project: The exhibition ‘Vom Jammertal ins Paradies’ which could not be shown in 2020 due to the pandemic situation is now, two years later, open to the public at Residenzschloss Altenburg, Schloss- und Spielkartenmuseum (Residential Castle Altenburg, Castle and Playing Cards Museum). It has been opened on July 1, 2022 and can be visited until Oct 31, 2022. More information on the landing page of the museum:

https://www.residenzschloss-altenburg.de/residenzschloss-altenburg.html

A list of all special events around the exhibition can be found here:

https://www.residenzschloss-altenburg.de/files/theme_files/downloads/Begleitprogramm%20Jammertal.pdf

And another thing: On Aug 20, 6 pm, there will be a special concert in Altenburg Castle Church. Ensemble Polyharmonique will perform works by Heinrich Schütz, Andreas Hammerschmidt and other German composers from the 17th century, and the program will be focused on works which deal with topics like lament, grief and consolation which are exactly the topics of the exhibition which is shown only a few metres away. Concert visitors have the opportunity to visit the exhibition before the concert (without buying an extra ticket for the museum). Furthermore, Deutschlandradio records the concert together with several interviews on the concert and the exhibition and will broadcast it on Aug 30, 8.03 pm.

(We are grateful to E. Reinhold Verlag for this update.)