This year there will take place the third Conference in the Czech lands co-organised by the New York Open Center, this year in associaton with the Alchemy Museum in Kutna Hora.
The first two took place in 1995, in Cesky Krumlov [The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited] and in 1997 in Praha [Prague Alchemy and the Hermetic Tradition].
This year’s Conference is somewhat different in both content and format. The title is An Esoteric Quest in Central Europe and it will take place from 31.8 – 8.9, in Kutna Hora [31.8 – 3.9.] Marianske Lazne – accommodation and meetings in Tepla [3.9. – 5.9] and Weimar 5.9 – 8.9]. This year the whole programme will be in English.
The whole program can be found at http://mail.opencenter.org/webdev/esoteric5.pdf as a PDF file which can be read on-line and/or downloaded.
“An Esoteric Quest in Central Europe” will be the fifth in a series of Conferences which have taken place in Europe during the last 12 years, the third in the Czech lands.
Many old friends will be returning for what will undoubtedly be the most ambitious project so far, since it will be the first peripatetic conference, with a journey which will bring us from Kutna Hora to Marianske Lazne [Marienbad] and conclude in Weimar in the former East Germany.
The thematic scope of this Conference, which is sub-titled From Renaissance Bohemia to Goethe’s Weimar , is intimately linked to the geography and the history of Central Europe. Here in Kutna Hora, a
former Royal town and now a Unesco Heritage Site, the roots of Alchemy are buried deep in the former mines and metallurgy and minting workshops. We will explore those roots and the development of Alchemy to its peak period at the cusp of the 16th and 17th Centuries.
In Marianske Lazne, one of Europe’s most exquisite Spa towns we will pick up the trail of Goethe, even staying in a hotel in a monastery where Goethe was a frequent visitor, and follow the trail to Weimar where he spent the closing years of his life. This was a period of a great resurgence of interest in Alchemy, particularly among the nobility in Central Europe.
Intermingled with profound and inspirational presentations will be music, poetry, the option to sample the Spa experience in elegant style and of course, as always at these Conferences, the opportunity to meet new and old friends in serious or convivial style.
If you have any questions please contact the Open Center as soon as possible! The Conference is filling up fast.
With best regards,
Michal Pober
Director of the Alchemy Museum in Kutna Hora
The full programme is quite a large PDF file, which I don’t want to send ‘blind” but it can be found here: www.opencenter.org
To register for An Esoteric Quest, or to ask any questions regarding travel arrangements, accommodations, or the conference program itself, please contact Andrea Lomanto at 212-219-2527, ext. 101, or at quest@opencenter.org