A TRIP TO A ROE DEER MUSEUM

FEATURE Duncan Norris

A reader of Australian Deer might be understandably confused as to the picture heading this article, which looks to be a procession at a German war memorial. Memorials and deer do seem to have little in common.

The parade isn’t, however, for the memorial, but is a cultural celebration merely passing it by on the way to the church, which lies to the right of the frame. It is located in Berchetesgadener, in the extreme south of Germany close to the border with Austria. So close, in fact, that traversing the mountains will commonly find you crossing the imaginary line between countries, marked by small flag symbols on trails and the ubiquitous beeping of a mobile phone letting you know that your provider has changed to the Austrian or German version, depending on which way you wander.

As the parade indicates, Bavaria has a long history with deep cultural roots, part of which is of a significant hunting culture. Any touring of royal residences and the like will inevitably discover the mounted heads of some great bucks and stags bagged by kings and princes long passed, and local houses still commonly decorate both internally and externally with skulls and antlers. The image of St Hubert, Patron Saint of Hunters whose iconography is the stag’s head and crucifix, is ubiquitous in the region, as are statues and locations named for the long-serving Prince Regent of Bavaria Luitpold, who was famed for his love of hunting. Local tradition in Berchetesgadener Land preceding Christmas and the New Year involves the parading in traditional costume and firing of saluting guns, muzzle-loaded weapons known as handböller (literally hand-cannons), which are themselves often works of art.

Many places in Europe have similar traditions and deep affiliations with hunting, and one might be asking what this has to do with a war memorial. This memorial sits in the town square, opposite both the millennia-old Church of St. Peter and John the Baptist - where the parade is headed in fact - and the Royal Castle, which take up most of two sides of the square. If the historically-minded wishes to take a tour of the castle (it is excellent, but the guided tour is only in German), they will also be given the option to buy tickets for the Deer Museum.

“That sounds great”, I said to myself, and gave up my five euros for a ticket: children and hunting dogs are admitted free. While this might seem like a spot of humour to the average Aussie it is a genuine beneficence. The Germans allow dogs into many parks and attractions, and hund tickets are commonly charged for their admission, including in unlikely spots as pleasure boats and cable cars.

Yet for the Deer Museum, unlike the guided tour of the castle, I was entirely on my own. I mean this quite literally. I was walked over to the museum’s location and the ticket seller used her key to obtain entrance, with the request that I shut the door firmly when I was finished. The entire museum had an automatic lighting system which was motion activated, so it would turn itself on for me. The location was up a staircase to a spot which was directly above the war memorial: the highest tiny windows you can see in the picture are in the museum.

Now being in a location where the local church was celebrating an 1100 th anniversary and which most everything looked like it was a holdover from the Middle Ages, I expected the museum to be of a similar vintage. Boy was I wrong! It was an extremely modern edifice of open spaces, lots of glass and metal and tastefully done wood, and a seemingly endless series of clear cabinets holding the remains of an enormous number of roe deer. There are nearly 1300 skulls alone.

The focus is deliberate. The foundation of the museum is the collection of the late Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, who died in 1996 as a still spry man in his early 90s. The Duke was an avid hunter, as befits someone who carries the title Duke and who was born before the First World War. But his passion and interest in hunting was the roe deer. Like many who are ardent hunters he was deeply concerned about and interested in the natural environment and all aspects of the animals he sought. Their habits, management, control, lifecycle, breeding, population, diseases, growth and fertility…the whole box and dice. The Deer Museum reflects this wide-ranging interest.

There are exhibits on the various stages of antler growth over specific time periods, bones ranging from neonates through to fully grown bucks and does and everything in-between, including a number of full taxidermy specimens. There is a profusion of artworks and other ephemera, objects and persons of local interest and celebrity, but they are merely a flavouring of additions to the primary focus of every aspect of the roe deer.

More substantial is the 45-minute film on Duke Albrecht, which gives a good overview of his life and the importance of roe deer to it. His study and interest was such that the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich eventually awarded an honorary doctorate in the subject, and the museum is a teaching and research facility as much as a tourist spot.

So, on the off chance that you find yourself in Berchtesgaden, I strongly suggest that you make the trip up the stairs behind the war memorial and get lost for a time in the wonder of this unique place.