Magical places - An adventurous journey to Europe's mystical sites

Harmut Krinitz is back as a guest in Bocholt! After fascinating presentations such as "Ireland - To the End of the World" and "Scotland - Vast Horizons", the travel journalist and professional photographer will be making a guest appearance in Bocholt at the invitation of the adult education centre during his current lecture tour. Under the title "Magical Places - An Adventurous Journey to Europe's Mystical Places", you can once again look forward to a real high-calibre event - his most elaborate production to date.

The long road

"Mycountless journeys to the »magical places« began many years ago in the far north", says Hartmut Krinitz. Back then, in the Norwegian polar summer, the low sun shone on the rock carvings of Alta shortly before midnight. Figures, animals and ships spanned an arc through the millennia against the vast landscape of Lapland. Krinitz was fascinated by the power of the carved images, their timelessness and the peace that this place radiated.

In the ten years that followed, his journey took him back and forth across Europe, from Mount Athos in Greece via Brittany to windswept islands in the North Atlantic and from the Arctic Ocean via Germany to Galicia, to Fisterra, to the end of the world. He met druids, pilgrims, archaeologists, private scholars, bards and eccentrics, who often set themselves apart from one another, but were ultimately all fascinated by the power of these places.

Life's journey

Countless permits, hundreds of kilometres on foot, tours by boat and ship, 100,000 kilometres by VW bus, the ascent of the holy mountain of the Catalans with a donkey and an unreal night on Skellig Michael, the island of monks and seabirds, lay ahead of him. What began in the far north, in the light of this polar summer, became the great journey of his life.

His unique documentary invites you to experience this magical journey at first hand: high-class visual impressions, authentic music, excerpts from literature, original sounds and an in-depth live commentary combine to create an audiovisual experience - presented as a multivision on a large screen. The illustrated book accompanying this work has been published under the title »Jenseits der Zeit - Eine Reise zu Europas geheimnisvollen Kultstätten« (Verlag Frederking & Thaler).

About the person

Together with tens of thousands of people, Krinitz waited for the first rays of the sun after a long night at the solstice celebrations in Avebury, Glastonbury and Stonehenge and searched for the stone-carved legacy of our ancestors in the Italian Alps by the light of a head torch. Having successfully organised more than 1500 events, Hartmut Krinitz is one of the most sought-after speakers in the German-speaking world.

As a travel journalist, he specialises in Europe and works for renowned magazines, book and calendar publishers. He is a member of the established photo agencies laif in Cologne and Hémis in Paris, an appointed member of the German Society for Photography (DGPh) and 2nd Chairman of the Society for Image and Lecture (GBV).

Further information and photos at www.hartmut-krinitz.de

The venue is the auditorium of the Bischöfl. St.-Josef-Gymnasium, Bocholt, Hemdener Weg 19. The event starts at 7.30 pm, admission from 7 pm. Adults pay 10 euros at the box office / pupils and trainees 9 euros.

Advance tickets are reduced by 1 euro, BBV subscribers receive a further reduction of 1 euro. Advance ticket sales at BBV, Europaplatz 24-28, at the VHS office in Bocholt, Stenernerweg 14a, the VHS branches in Rhede and Isselburg or as an online reservation at www.vhs-bocholt.de.