Holtzbrinck Lecture

Schneepalast: An Emotional History of Snow

In the spring of 1927, a Schneepalast—an indoor palace covered in artificial snow—opened in Berlin, followed by another in Vienna. These snow palaces were short-lived entertainments of the Weimar era. From today’s vantage, they gesture at something unsettling: As the climate changes, snowfall and snow cover are diminishing. Amy Waldman intertwines cultural history, ecology, philosophy, and memoir to explore how snow has shaped not just our material circumstances and forms of amusement, but also our interior landscapes. What else do we lose if we lose snow? And how will we remember it? Can one construct a Schneepalast of the mind?