Admission:
members € 4
guests € 6

Dr. Angela Steidele was born in 1968. She teaches at the University of Hildesheim and is currently writing a biography of Sibylle Mertens. She works as an independent author of non-fiction in Cologne. Her most recent book is: In Männerkleidern. Das verwegene

Leben der Catharina Margaretha Linck alias Anastasius Lagrantinus Rosenstengel, hingerichtet 1721. Biographie und Dokumentation. It was awarded the Gleim Award for Literature 2005.

Tuesday, 6th March, 7 pm
Freies Deutsches Hochstift/Goethe Museum
Großer Hirschgraben 23-25

Angela Steidele „Ich hatte eigentlich meine Freiheit zu lieb ...“.
Sibylle Mertens-Schaaffhausen (1797-1857) und ihr Kreis
Angela Steidele "In fact, I loved my freedom too much …"
Sibylle Mertens-Schaaffhausen (1797-1857) and her circle

Sibylle Mertens, nee Schaaffhausen, the "countess from the Rhine," was one of the most unusual and controversial women of the 19th century. She was Germany's first recognised female archaeologist and a patron of the arts and culture in her Salons in Bonn and Rome. Taking pride in her "peasant and republican ancestry," the professed "democrat" supported the March Revolution of 1848. Married to a husband she did not love and mother of six children, she looked for women as companions. She shared a deep affection with writer Adele Schopenhauer and poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. Also among her circle was Ottilie von Pogwisch, Goethe's daughter-in-law. Via Italy, their network of creative and learned women extended as far as the Anglo-American territories.