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Philosophical footprint

Jacob Böhme is the most prominent citizen of Görlitz. But why so many shoeshops are named after him is probably only known to the inhabitants of Görlitz. Böhme was a shoemaker; a workbench complete with the shoemaker’s ball, a water-filled glass ball used to focus the dimm light of a candle in the workspace, similar to the one probably used by Böhme, is on display in the Kaisertrutz. In 1612 this shoemaker without any academic training wrote the amazing book “Aurora oder Morgenröte im Aufgang” (Aurora or the rise of dawn). In this and a number of other writings Böhme dealt with his own mystical experiences which turned him into a theosophist, mystic and philosopher. Hegel later called him the first German philosopher.
Böhme’s house glistens red on the Polish bank of the River Neiße; his grave can be found on Nikolaifriedhof (Nikolai graveyard).