Frankenstein | Mary Shelley | Travel Guide: Frankenstein Castle & Others
When Mary Shelley travelled Europe in 1814, she visited the town of Gernsheim in the west of Germany. Though the town itself is pretty enough, it is also close to Frankenstein Castle. Yes, you read that correctly.
It is pretty old, like, “first mentioned in the year 1252 and probably build in 1240″-old, can be visited today and is connected to a bunch of different myths. The name of castle and novel-hero comes from an old Germanic tribe, the “Franken” -- who are believed to have build the castle -- and “stein”, which means “stone” and is commonly used in place names around here.
More importantly though, a doctor named Johann Konrad Dippel lived in Frankenstein Castle in 1673. Historians and the towns people debate whether this is true or not, but there is a myth that Dippel experimented with some funky stuff -- such as nitroglycerin and, you guessed it, bringing dead animals back to life -- whether myth or real, this was well-known in any case and would have reached Mary Shelley when she traveled through.
The second important Frankenstein place in Germany is Ingolstadt in Bavaria, where Victor Frankenstein goes to university. It is also nice to look at; below is the former anatomy building of the university and the historic district during a garbs parade.
And the third place worth mentioning is Lake Geneva and the city of Geneva -- ”Genf” in German -- on the border of France and Switzerland, where Frankenstein’s family lives and much of the novel takes place.
Urgh, so pretty. Do you feel the urge to travel there yet? I know I do.
-- Jule.
