June 15, 2022 marked the 400th anniversary of Christian Mentzel’s birth. This event coincided with the 750th anniversary of his birthplace Fürstenwalde/Spree.
The team of authors of the biography “Christian Mentzel (1622-1701) – personal physician of the Great Elector, botanist and sinologist” organized a cultural-historical colloquium in St. Mary’s Cathedral in his hometown to mark the occasion.
Session 1: Christian Mentzel’s family, hometown Fürstenwalde and education in his time
Chair: Guido Strohfeldt, Museum Fürstenwalde
- Christian Mentzel from Fürstenwalde – The town and his family in the turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War
- Between the turmoil of war and crisis management: Brandenburg-Prussia in Christian Mentzel’s time
Session 2: Christian Mentzel’s work as a botanist and co-founder of plant geography
Chair: Brigitte Nixdorf, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg
- Plant knowledge in the past and today: from medicinal healing effects to botanical systematics and genetic classification
- Described by Mentzel: Plants in and around Fürstenwalde and what they mean today
- On the crisis of (university) taxonomic education
- Discussion on Mentzel’s time and work as a botanist
Session 3: Christian Mentzel’s work as an electoral personal physician and co-founder of the Brandenburg medical legislation
Chair: Stefan Koch, Brandenburg Medical School and Helios Klinikum Bad Saarow
- Christian Mentzel – healer – electoral personal physician – health reformer
- Black tea and Panax ginseng – The history of two medicinal plants from Mentzel until today
- The pathological-anatomical observations in the oeuvre of Christian Mentzel
- Mentzel’s untidy desk
- Discussion of the thematic block Mentzel as a physician
Session 4: Christian Mentzel as co-founder of Sinology in Germany and Europe
Chair: Markus Mollitor, Bernhardinum Fürstenwalde
- Christian Mentzel as co-founder of Sinology in Germany and Europe
- Christian Mentzel: From co-founder of Chinese Studies to pioneer of a regional innovation cluster China
- The Chinese Language and Worldview in the Changing Times
- Mentzel’s work as librarian to the Great Elector and Chinese book catalog in the Electoral Library
Session 5: Christian Mentzel as 57th academician of today’s Leopoldina and humorous author
Chair: Astrid Böger, Brandenburg Academy for Health Sciences and Technology (bagut) and Wolf D. Hartmann, European Academy of Sciences and Arts Salzburg
- Mentzel’s correspondence with contemporary scholars
- Discussion on Mentzel as sinologist and academician