Image above: The Garden and the Red House behind the Trees (Siebold Memorial Museum)
Somehow, it felt as if there had been a memory of a house – a red-bricked, western style house on a slope behind bushes of hydrangeas, many many bushes of hydrangeas, in this deep green that is so common around these areas. As it turns out there is house here – red bricked – surrounded by incredible trees and indeed hydrangeas. It is a memorial museum.
And, it is a slightly strange encounter. Opened in 1989 the building was constructed in the shape of Siebold’s house in Leiden, near the site of where he had here managed to establish a school. Today the museum houses some objects from Siebold’s extensive collection, some family illustrations, memorabilia and a gallery for painting. It is a fine museum. But I was puzzled. Strangely it was the sight of the exterior of this house amongst the greenery, which struck me and cast a strange spell … the interior was somehow excluded from this feeling of time/space travel. A difference between images. And thus it feels that only a glimpse of that story of a fleeting memory could be caught and in the moment of encounter already retreated into the past. And so the journey continues.
Further Information:
Around the Siebold House
Around the Siebold Memorial Museum there was a somewhat peaceful atmosphere.
