Valhalla

Valhalla (Old Norse Valhöll, "Hall of the Slain"; German: Walhall) is Odin's hall in Norse, better yet, Germanic mythology, located in Gladsheim and is the home for those slain gloriously in battle (known as Einherjar) who are welcomed by Bragi and escorted to Valhalla by the valkyries. In Beowulf, it is called the shining citadel.

Mythology

Knight journeying to Valhalla, painting by E. Horst

The main gate of Valhalla is called Valgrind, which is described in Grímnismál as a "sacred gate", behind which are the "holy doors" and "there are few who can tell the manner by which it is locked". The hall itself has 540 doors, so wide that 800 warriors could walk through side-by-side. It is said that there is room enough for all those chosen. Here, every day, the slain warriors – who will assist Wodan in Ragnarök, the final conflict of the Germanic gods with the giants – arm themselves for battle and ride forth by the thousands to engage in combat on the plains of Asgard. Those who die in the fighting will be brought back to life. At night, they return to Valhalla to feast on the boar Sæhrímnir and drink Met (honey mead). Those who do not get to Valhalla go to the home of the dead (Hel), a place beneath the underworld (Niflheim), or one of various other places. Those who are lost at sea, for example, are taken to Ægir's hall at the bottom of the sea. In addition to the Valkyries and the Einherjar, a rooster named Gullinkambi lives there.

Walhalla Temple

The Walhalla Temple is a hall of fame that honours laudable and distinguished people in Germanic and German history – "politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the German tongue"; thus the celebrities honoured are drawn from Greater Germany, a wider area than today's Germany, and even as far away as Britain in the case of several Anglo-Saxon figures. The hall is a neo-classical building above the Danube River, in Donaustauf, east of Regensburg in Bavaria.

"Walhalla" means "hall of the dead". "German - Germanic" personalities may be considered for a place in this hall of fame twenty years after their death at the earliest. Upon entering the hall, the visitorfinds himself facing an impressive collection of outstanding personalities. 128 marble busts and 64 commemorative tablets bear witness to achievements in German and European history, arts and science, music and painting. The tablets honour a proud succession of figures from Hermann the Cheruscan to Peter Henlein, inventor of the pocket watch. No authentic likenesses of these 64 personalities exist. It was therefore impossible to commission a bust. First in the row of busts is the German King Henry I (the Fowler), followed by Otto the Great; last is Sophie Scholl (member of the White Rose resistance group). The subtle use of multi-coloured marble for the floor and walls, an ornately structured ceiling decorated with figures from Germanic mythology, a freize of reliefs depicting scenes from early German history, caryatids and six Valkyries (by Chr. Daniel Rauch) combine to create a dynamic yet graceful interior. The Walhalla was conceived äs an "open" monument. In other words, it was intended that more busts would be added in future. This has happened at irregulär intervals. Any German may submit a proposal. The idea of honouring personalities "of the German tongue" without regard for national frontiers, elevates the community in the Walhalla to an early version of the European Union. King Ludwig I selected men and women from Sweden, Austria, England, Holland, Russia, Switzerland and the Baltic States.

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (de) was the last addition of a military leader (in 1910). After World War I, new additions focussed on artists and intellectuals. Beginning in 1933, when Kraft durch Freude and other National Socialist organizations promoted trips to Walhalla, visitor numbers increased exponentially. In 1937, when Hitler unveiled a bust Anton Bruckner, 131,520 were counted.

The Walhalla Temple was reached during the Allied invasion of Germany in April-May 1945 by the US Third Army led by General George S. Patton.

Additions since 1945 are proposed by private German individuals or private German foundations, who will also pay for the production of the new bust. Suggestions are reviewed by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, based on which a recommendation is made by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior. The final decision lies with the Bavarian Council of Ministers. Official practice since 1945 has been to favour "eminent figures from science or art, or individuals with extraordinary social or caritative merit". Nineteen busts have been added between 1945 and 2022, the most recent "comrade" (Genosse Walhallas) is Max Planck.

The Walhalla was built in form of a Dorian temple for the sake of a hall of fame for German speaking personages. Its master builder was Leo von Klenze. The relevant dates with respect of the building are documented by mosaics on the floor, due to the Roman numbers the format of the dates is not Anglicized: Decided in January MDCCCVII, Commenced on XVIII Oct. MDCCCXXX, Accomplished on XVIII Oct. MDCCCXLII. A complete list of all appreciated personages is given in the booklet Walhalla, Amtlicher Führer (Official Guide), issued by Staatlichen Hochbauamt Regensburg in 2004 and published by Bernhard Bosse Verlag. It should be mentioned that any 5 to 7 years one bust can be added. The selection of the busts shown above concerns mathematicians only: Johannes Müller, called Regiomontanus, Albrecht Dürer, Nikolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, and Carl Friedrich Gauß.

Quotes

On 18 October 1842, the 29th anniversary of the Battle of the Nations, King of Bavaria Ludwig I opened the Memorial with words that can be read on a stone in front of the Walhalla:

“May Walhalla be conducive to the strengthening and multiplication of German spirit! May all Germans, whatever their tribe, always feel that they have a common fatherland, a fatherland of which they can be proud, and everyone should contribute as much as they can to its glorification.”

Gallery

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See also

• Germanic paganism

Further reading

• Felix Dahn / Therese Dahn: Walhall – Germanische Götter- und Heldensagen für alt und jung am deutschen Herd erzählt, 1880 (dedicated to the memory of Jakob Grimm); read 8th edition online (1888)

External links

• Valhalla – a hall of honour high above the Danube
• Grandiose Walhalla in Bavaria presents a stunning scene both inside and outside monument (2023)

Encyclopedias

• Encyclopedia Britannica: Valhalla
• Encyclopedia Britannica 1911 Edition: Valhalla
• Encyclopedia.com: Valhalla