St. Helena
Reichtümer aus den Tiefen der Berge
Saint Helena—Arenenberg—Saint-Léonard
Due to its remote location and inaccessible coastline, the notorious island of Saint never had an indigenous population, and remained uninhabited until the sixteenth century. The Portuguese discovered it; later on, the English also laid claim to Saint Helena. Various armed altercations ensued, and eventually the island became an English possession. Large farms were created, and black African and Chinese laborers were brought in. Saint Helena’s wealth grew—particularly because its protected geographic situation recommended it for the storage of large quantities of gold. In 1815, the British government selected Saint Helena as the place of exile for Napoleon, who was deported there in October of the same year, and resided at Longwood House until his death on May 5, 1821.
But Napoleon Bonaparte, the French general, statesman, and, finally, self-appointed emperor under the title of Napoleon I, had seen many places before that. One of them is in the immediate vicinity of the place the artist Florian Germann calls home. Since the midfifteenth century, the residents of Schloss Arenenberg have enjoyed the gorgeous views from the chateau’s perch high above the Untersee, the western branch of Lake Constance. Like a precious jewel, the magnificent grounds invite the visitor to explore the surrounding forests and embark on a tour of the multifaceted history of the region around the lake. The chateau must have fascinated Germann even in his teenage years: a relic of European history that attested to Bonaparte’s charisma and intelligence, survived no more than a stone’s throw from where he was born…