Travels of Prince Waldemar of Prussia to India

Goethe-Zentrum is organising an Exhibition of Lithographs titled ‘Travels of Prince Waldemar of Prussia to India’ from February 14 to 24 at Hamburg Hall between 10 am and 6:30 pm.  
 
The exhibition is about Prince Waldemar of Prussia (1817-1849), Nephew of King Friedrich Wilhelm III, who was a remarkable person with a deep obsession for traveling and curiosity about distant countries beyond the boundaries of Europe as well as an impetus for military bravery. Alexander von Humboldt inspired the young prince – in line with the ‘knowledge project’ of the enlightenment era – to make a journey to India.

Waldemar was a highly talented artist. He made hundreds of fine sketches and watercolors in India, depicting landscapes, village life, monuments and the adventures of the Anglo-Sikh battles.   

The original sketches were skilfully turned into lithographs by two of the best-known lithographers of the time in Berlin, Ferdinand Bellermann and Hermann Kretzschmar. 

The visual and textual material that the prince brought back from India was published posthumously in 1853 in the book “In Memory of the Travels of Prince Waldemar of Prussia to India 1844-1846”. For his research, he was awarded the doctorate by Cambridge University in 1848.