Drübeck Monastery Church

The Monastery Trail and the Romanesque Road pass through Drübeck. After taking a walk around the monastery complex and viewing the ancient capitals, it’s recommended to go for a stroll up Schäferberg, from where you can enjoy a wonderful view over Drübeck and as far as Wernigerode, especially in the evening.

Elise Crola (1809–1878) is a remarkable draughtswoman. “My wife has a camera in each of her eyes,” said Georg Heinrich Crola about her, as she drew people and animals with such confidence, strength, and yet with ease, just as excellently as nature or architecture. She never attended an academy, as it was not allowed for women. The well-known painter Wilhelm Schadow had drawn Elise’s father’s attention to her talent. Her father, a banker and a patron of the arts, ran a home open to art, and she received drawing lessons in Berlin. Lucky for her. There she met Georg Heinrich Crola as the painting, divorced Mrs von Weyer. Both were surprised to discover their shared love for Ilsenburg. Later, he became her second husband and they moved here. That was in 1840. During the following almost three decades, their home was a meeting point for friends and artists, especially from Berlin and Dresden. The couple had five children. Elise was deeply religious, but never in a pious or sanctimonious way. The divine, for her, could be found everywhere in nature; she practised compassion and helping others. When she died in 1878 at the age of 68, there was probably no one in Ilsenburg who did not mourn her.

Georg Heinrich Crola wrote about his first encounter with his future wife in his memoirs.

The grave of Elise and Georg Heinrich Crola at the Ilsenburg cemetery still exists. A commemorative plaque on their home, a hiking trail, and a permanent exhibition of their works in the Ilsenburg Industrial and Ironworks Museum honour them. However, Elise’s “Memoir Pages”, which have been preserved as a copy in the Harz Library, are still awaiting publication, as is her artistic work. Georg Heinrich Crola later described his first meeting with her as follows: “As soon as we entered, we met a lady in the hallway, whom my friend Carl Hübner introduced to me as Mrs von Weiher. I was most pleasantly surprised to meet and speak so freely with the artist I had heard about in Ilsenburg. She also addressed me by name, recognising it. When she learned that our visit was to see her parents’ collection of paintings, she led us into the rooms of the absent Fränkel family, where we sat for a while and talked about Ilsenburg. She recalled this place and the Harz region in general with visible delight, and also mentioned with gratitude the Nieter family, with whom, as a homeless stranger, she had found a friendly welcome, and said she was happy to have escaped the noise and luxury of the great world through this family’s help. She longed even then to return to her quiet little room in the brewery in Ilsenburg, which is why she had already set the date of her return for the next day. What impressed me about this woman’s kindly nature was the high degree of intellectual cultivation, combined with an apparently clear and determined independence (…).”