#auerstedt

In the evening of October 14, 1806, Napoleon, learning of Davout’s victory at Auerstedt, told General Rapp:

“Davout has had a terrible engagement: he had King William and the Duke of Brunswick opposed to him. The Prussians fought desperately: they suffered dreadful slaughter. The Duke has been dangerously wounded; and the whole army seems to be in terrible disorder. Bernadotte did not behave well. He would have been pleased had Davout been defeated; but the affair reflects the highest honour on the conqueror, and the more so as Bernadotte rendered his situation a difficult one. That Gascon will never do better.”

The day after his victory, in the Fifth Bulletin of the Grande Armée, Napoleon paid his respects to Davout: “This Marshal displayed distinguished bravery and firmness of character, the first qualities in a warrior.”

A few days later, he sent General Duroc to “proceed to Nauenburgh, to Dessau, wherever we have wounded troops. See that they want for nothing: visit them for me, each man individually. Give them all the consolation their situation requires. Tell them—tell the Marshal [Davout], that he, his generals and his troops, have acquired everlasting claims on my gratitude.”

Napoleon was unsatisfied with his message and wrote to Davout in order to assure him of how much he was pleased with his conduct. Napoleon’s letter was inserted in the order of the day and the troops were transported with it. The troops, including the wounded, could not contain themselves from expressing their delight.

Auerworld Place - Auerstedt, Germany

Weaving live saplings together to form a kind of domed cathedral space, architect Marcel Kalberer and his group Sanfte Strukturen are re-envisioning the way living building materials and techniques can be used to design modern spaces.

Constructed in 1998, the Auerworld Palace in Auerstedt, Germany was their first "willow palace' project, taking the efforts of 300 volunteers to build. The palace is now 10 years old - their techniques, however, are ancient. The Sumerian reed houses of Mesopotamia were famous for their construction of tightly bound reeds, and in Europe smaller outbuildings have been made of woven plants and trees for hundreds of years. Most of these are built from green branches, though. In this case the whole tree is woven in place to form a living structure.