Résumé
Résumé de Des murs gris aux horizons verts
Go deeper: the whole of Des murs gris aux horizons verts
About 7 h to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
You will enjoy this book if you love walking tours of old towns, chronicles and legends, mining history, folk art and Christmas customs, or a guide who speaks warmly of his home.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What does it take to love a town that offers no pretty postcard view? Gustav Riess opens with a bicycle trip to Rothenburg, then turns to Freiberg in Saxony, a mining town of slag heaps and plain gables that asks for another kind of looking.
Riess wrote after the First World War, and he knew the town as a builder and planner. His book is a set of walking essays through walls, town hall, tower finial and cathedral, then out to forest paths, a fortress and a toy village. He argues that home is a matter of feeling, and that old stones and old sayings can teach it.
Dans ce résumé
- 1Learn to see the beauty of laborFree
- 2Strong walls need steadfast hearts behind them
- 3The Thirty Years War tested every citizen
- 4Fifty days of siege made a heroic story
- 5The town hall holds justice, fear and records
- 6A tower finial speaks of ordinary people
- 7Old sayings carry the wisdom of ordinary makers
- 8The cathedral is a sermon in stone
- 9Walks outward show forests, heaps and legends
- 10Fortress, toys and Christmas end the journey
Point clé 1 sur 10
Learn to see the beauty of labor
Riess begins with advice on how to arrive. Do not step off the train into the dull station road. Climb the slope above the Mulde Valley and look at the town from outside.
From there the view is not a fairy-tale skyline. It is black slag walls, smoking chimneys and spoil heaps that rise like cliffs. Riess calls this the romance of labor, the poetry of people who went underground and carried silver to the light. Beside the green rampart walk lies the Donat Cemetery, built in 1531 because plague was filling the churchyards.
In the market square, students ride the bronze lions at the foot of Otto the Rich and sing mining songs. Home, Riess writes, opens only to those who bring their hearts.
Look at a plain place with patience and it will show you its soul.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Des murs gris aux horizons verts
About 7 h to read.Questions about Des murs gris aux horizons verts
What is From Grey Walls and Green Horizons about?
It is a collection of walking essays about Freiberg in Saxony and nearby places, including the Tharandt Forest, Königstein fortress and the toy village of Seiffen. Riess blends history, legend, art and landscape to describe what home means.
Who were Torstensson and Peter Schmohl?
Torstensson was the Swedish general who besieged Freiberg for fifty days in 1642 and 1643. Peter Schmohl was the town lieutenant who defended the most dangerous gate, and Riess remembers him through a tower stump, a ring and a cup.
Who was Kunz von Kaufungen?
Kunz von Kaufungen was the knight who took two Saxon princes from Altenburg Castle in July 1455 during a quarrel with their father. Freiberg's court judged him, and he was beheaded in the market square, where a black stone marks the place.
Is the book a true account and when was it written?
Yes, the book is nonfiction. Riess drew on chronicles, archives, inscriptions and his own walks, and he wrote in the years after the First World War, when he was working in Freiberg.
Is it easy to read as a travel companion?
The chapters explore particular places and themes, so you can read them one subject at a time. Riess writes in a warm, descriptive voice, shares many stories and anecdotes, and often speaks directly to you as a fellow walker.
Cite this edition
Riess, Gustav. From Grey Walls and Green Horizons. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/from-grey-walls-and-green-horizons.
Riess, G. (2026). From grey walls and green horizons. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/from-grey-walls-and-green-horizons
Riess, Gustav. From Grey Walls and Green Horizons. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/from-grey-walls-and-green-horizons.
@book{riess2026from,
author = {Riess, Gustav},
title = {From Grey Walls and Green Horizons},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/from-grey-walls-and-green-horizons}
}
