"If I'm running late and have to hurry," says Martje Thalmann, "I can sometimes make the ascent in two minutes". The woman has practice. After all, the climb is 300 steps. Six times a week, the Norwegian-born woman climbs the narrow staircase in the evening - to her workplace, the tower room at St Lambert's in Münster. "Dein NRW" visited Germany's only female tower keeper in public service there, high above the rooftops of the episcopal city. Up 300 steps and down again.
It's cold this morning. The thermometer shows minus 4 degrees. Martje Thalmann comes to the interview on her bike, of course. It's an old, yellow postal bike. She quickly chains it up, and after a brief greeting in the cold, we're off. Two small steps lead to the inconspicuous door at the back of Münster's famous church. "After that, it's only 298, that's fine," says the young woman. And she laughs. As she often does when she talks about her work. When she talks about the long tradition of her job, about the history of the city in which she wanted to live as a child, when she talks about the long, quiet evenings in the Türmerstube, about her fear during a severe thunderstorm in 2014 and about the highlight of her career so far, when she was allowed to ring the great council and fire bell during the mayor's administration - words like incredible, uplifting, wonderful, magic, respect and happiness keep coming up.
Since taking over the office from her predecessor on 1 January 2014, she has become more relaxed, Martje Thalmann will sum up at the end of the interview. But anyone who gets to know the music and history scholar will soon realise that this is a bright, cheerful young woman who is completely at ease with herself and the city of her choice. Her job: "Public service, half-time, with holiday cover and everything that goes with it," she almost blurts out. And she laughs again. Because being a doorkeeper in Münster is not just a job for the 36-year-old.
The tower keeper of St Lambert's was first mentioned in a document in 1383 and his job was to keep an eye out for fires and warn of foreign intruders in the town. More than 630 years later, every evening at 9 p.m. a pretty, modern woman takes up her duties in the small tower guard's room to blow the tower guard's horn from the gallery every half hour until midnight. Except on Tuesdays. The horn is silent on Tuesdays, when the doorkeeper is off duty. Allegedly, says the New Westphalian amusedly, "because according to tradition, there have never been any fires or enemy attacks on a Tuesday in all the centuries..."
The bells are always rung on the half and full hour in three directions. Towards Prinzipalmarkt in the south, towards Domplatz in the west and towards Drubbel (until 1907, 10 small houses "drubbelten" on this square in a very small space) in the north. However, there are many myths and legends surrounding the east, such as that of a cemetery to the east and that the peace of the dead should not be disturbed. However, the scientist doubts this and assumes that there are ecclesiastical reasons, as the altars in the churches were orientated towards the east and therefore, out of respect, they were not blown to the east.
"Even as a child, Münster was at the top of my list of cities where I wanted to work. And now I'm actually here and can be part of this centuries-old tradition. Unbelievable!"
She regularly reports on these and other city history events and research findings in her own blog: www.tuermerinvonmuenster.wordpress.com
After all, it's not every evening that she climbs the narrow spiral staircase into the cosy room with all kinds of pictures on the walls, city maps, numerous books, specialist magazines, the old radio from grandpa's time, a cassette recorder from her childhood and the two small fan heaters that provide a little warmth in the cool tower top. In the middle of it all, we also discover soap bubbles ("for a good mood") and some postcards painted by m-ART-je. The motifs: everything to do with Münster. In addition to music and medieval history, art is also a great passion of the woman who grew up in southern Norway and near Bremen, and who also works as an editor and translator for English and French.
And as her gaze continues to wander through the orderly chaos in the tower room, Martje Thalmann briefly remarks: "Everything up here is properly inspected and safety-approved, by the way." And with a wink, she adds:
"So not only is this the most beautiful workplace in the world, it's probably also the safest."
Especially as the doorkeeper has to sign in with the fire brigade every evening when she starts work and sign out again after work. She is always all alone up here and is not allowed to take anyone with her for safety reasons. There are also no public tours of the tower of St Lambert's in Münster. "Yes," says the tower keeper, "I'm always alone here, I'm not lonely.
"Born to see
Ordered to see
sworn to the tower
I like the world"
Martje Thalmann, who was able to prevail against 46 competitors with this Goethe quote when she applied three years ago, therefore writes down everything she has experienced and learnt up here. "Everyone knows Till Eulenspiegel, for example," she says, "but did you know that he used to be a doorman?" Another story is about the "fine art of tutting". This follows a certain numerical mysticism and is by no means as easy as the layman imagines. "Above all, it had to work right away." Martje Thalmann was unable to practise with the 1.20 metre long, precious replica of the original horn before her "first time". Everyone would have heard it.
Incidentally, the central number in all the signals is "3". Among other things, it stands for the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At 9 pm, a triple "Tuuuut" is therefore heard three times, at 10 pm 2×3 Tuuuut plus 1×4 Tuuuut can be heard from the tower, i.e.: "Tuuuut - Tuuuut -Tuuuuut (pause) Tuuuut - Tuuuut -Tuuuuut (pause) Tuuuut - Tuuuut - Tuuuut - Tuuuut". At the beginning, Martje Thalmann, who plays eight other instruments in addition to the Türmerhorn, such as the piano, but also the Renaissance lute and double bass, sometimes miscounted. "That was immediately recognised in the city," she remembers. Mostly, however, the reactions to her medieval craft are positive. "The night watchman always responds," she says, "but people also call me Rapunzel or jokingly shout: "Don't jump." Some also ask for an encore.
Of course, this only happens on the next full or half hour. But if you listen very carefully, you might be able to hear completely different sounds from the top of the tower from time to time. Because Martje Thalmann herself prefers to listen to heavy metal in her free time. It somehow fits in with the Middle Ages.
Tourismus NRW e.V., Ralph Sondermann, Turmzimmer des St Lamberti Turm, Münster Tourismus NRW e.V., Ralph Sondermann, Bilder im Turmzimmer des St Lamberti Turm, Münster Tourismus NRW e.V., Ralph Sondermann, Martje Thalmann mit Blashorn, Münster Tourismus NRW e.V., Ralph Sondermann, Türmerin Figur, Münster
On the trail of cultureThree questions for Martje Thalmann
Mrs Thalmann, you have 48 hours of free time. What would you definitely do with this time in NRW?
Martje Thalmann: "I would do what I always do on Tuesdays - my day off - namely get to know my new home of Westphalia. Tuesday is always my cultural day. Then I look for a destination in Münster or the region, set off on my bike, get on a bus or train and explore the region. I also like to visit churches privately and join public guided tours. In the year of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, a few visits to the Münster City Museum are definitely on the programme, as the history of the so-called Anabaptists has also been reappraised there. I can see the iron baskets in which they were hung high up on the tower of St Lambert's every day. And at least one Tuesday in the summer is reserved for the Skulptur Projekte Münster. Ten years ago, when the exhibition last took place, I was in Münster especially for it."
Which place in NRW have you recently rediscovered for yourself?
Martje Thalmann: "Soest. My Soest. A great city. I definitely have to go there again, because two churches were closed during my visit that I would like to see. Soest also has many parallels to Münster, such as the easily recognisable former city limits (in Münster this is the Promenade, in Soest the Stadtwall) and the many historical or historically rebuilt facades and, of course, the art. Just take the painter Wilhelm Morgner and his incredibly large oeuvre. Morgner was born in Soest. I became aware of this connection at the LWL Museum of Art and Culture in Münster, of course. Because somehow everything has something to do with Münster..."
Your personal favourite place in NRW?
Martje Thalmann: "My favourite tower room, of course, what else? Because for me, tower time always means happy time. Seriously, I breathe more freely and positively up here than anywhere else. And I realise that I've become much more relaxed since I started working here."
