The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) German poet & dramatist
In "1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said," ed. Robert Byrne, 1988.

    The 16th-century German Renaissance as exemplified in the great Aula of Germany's oldest university, the University of Heidelberg, provides the inspiration for this classroom.

    Walnut and oak -- carved, painted, or inlaid -- depict the many contributions of German culture. Names of philosophers, writers, poets, musicians, artists, and scientists are incised in the room's dado cap. Intarsia is used on the wall cabinet doors to portray four familiar characters in German literature: Parsifal, Siegfried, Heiden-Roslein, and Lorelei. Imposing entrance doors hold fine intarsia renditions of the famous city squares of Rothenburg and Nuremberg. Crests of Germany's oldest universities, Heidelberg (1386) and Leipzig (1409), appear in the pediments of the ornate doorways. Ceiling beams bear painted crests of German cities. Quotations from Schiller and Goethe highlight the arched recesses at both ends of the room.

   Delightful stained-glass windows contain colorful scenes and quotations from the world-famous fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. Here children of all heritages excitedly identify Hansel and Gretel approaching the gingerbread house, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella with her Prince Charming, and Snow White surrounded by the Seven Dwarfs.

   In the display case is a collection of books funded by the German Ministry of Education.