A small, peaceful, state of enchanted forests, rolling hills rising to mountains, bucolic meadows, rivers, picture book small towns and villages, historic cities, more than 450 fortresses and castles, monasteries plus numerous World Heritage Sites and then toss in some of the most famous names from a thousand years of history? Sounds too good to be true?
But it is true. Thuringia is a captivatingly pretty state lying in the heart of Germany, with Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony as its neighbours. To be sure, in recent history this old East German state has had a tough time, but since reunification ancient towns have been carefully restored and Thuringia extends a hand of welcome to visitors.
It takes its name from a Germanic tribe which settled there about 350AD. Over the centuries it was governed by a number of dynasties and was frequently divided between members of the ruling families. Partly as a result of this by the beginning of the 19th century numerous small courts had been established many of them vying against the others to attract the most distinguished and noted minds of the day. Consequently the likes of Luther, Schiller, Wagner, Cranach and Bach were no strangers to Thuringia.
A Capital City
The capital, Erfurt, is located more or less in the centre, not only of Germany, but also of Europe. A position which was to bring it great prosperity lying as it did on the trading cross roads of Europe. It was also one of the major producers of woad, another income earner. Its university is the third oldest in Germany and today’s students continue the tradition of giving the city an extra vitality.
It maybe the capital and largest city in Thuringia but it is still small by most city standards taking less than 30 minutes to cross it on foot.
Steps sweep grandly up to the entrance of the cathedral (Dom) that dominates its main square. Next to the Dom the smaller, three-spired church of St Severus is also worth a visit. Leading away from the Domplatz are the narrow, winding streets lined with richly decorated Renaissance buildings and half-timbered houses of the old town and Fischmarkt. Best of all is the 120m long Krämerbrücke, the old Merchant’s Bridge – the longest inhabited bridge in Europe and only one north of the Alps – crossing the River Gera still lined with shops. Another ‘must see’ is the Old Synagogue, dating back to at least 1100. It is one of the oldest synagogues in Europe, and the treasures on display are magnificent.
It’s worth taking the few minutes trip out of town to the Petersberg Citadel. The citadel, dating from 1695, is massive and provides wonderful views across Erfurt. Close by is the attractive Ega garden and exhibition centre. In its park – Europe’s biggest flowerbed, and in high summer when in full flower it is gorgeous!
Weimar and its Treasures
It is said that from the Citadel you can see Weimar, an elegant city as befits the intellectuals who thronged there in the 18th century, justifying its reputation as the home of the German Enlightenment. Cranach, J.S. Bach, Schiller, Goethe came to Weimar to join the court of the Duchess Anna Amalia who had summoned Goethe to act as tutor for her son. Following them the likes of Liszt, Richard Strauss, Nietzsche, Gropius, van der Velde, Klee and Kandinsky also found their way to the city.
The list of properties in Weimar designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites seems to grow longer by the year – 16 at the last count.
Weimar was the home of the Bauhaus movement, founded by Walter Gropius in 1919, prior to its move to Dessau. The Bauhaus Museum is just one of the many Weimar museums well worth a visit. As is the Ginkgo Biloba museum: Ginkgo Biloba trees have been an emblem of Weimar since their introduction in the 19th century.
In 2004 fire destroyed the library of Duchess Anna Amalia but it has been stunningly restored and today houses a vast collection of German Enlightenment manuscripts. Daily visitor numbers are restricted so it is advisable to get there early.
Martin Luther preached in the Church of St Peter and Paul, in which can be seen a magnificent three-panelled altar piece, one of Cranach’s masterpieces.
Stroll in the extensive English-style riverside park – Park on Ilm – in the footsteps of Schiller and Goethe, taking in Goethe’s summer house, or follow in those of the Dukes and Duchesses in the parks of their summer palaces – Tiefurt, Ettersburg and Belvedere.
Just a few miles from Weimar on the Ettersberg hill is the Buchenwald concentration camp where some 56,000 people died. It was at Weimar in 1919 that Germany’s first democratic constitution was passed – the Weimar Republic. Unfortunately the democracy ended with the rise of the National Socialists. The resulting appalling inhumanity is recorded at the Buchenwald Memorial site.
Back in the city centre shaded by the Ginkgo Biloba trees is a pleasant pedestrianized shopping precinct where ice cream parlours vie for attention with shops ranging from upmarket boutiques to those selling anything from pottery to jewellery, mustard to ginkgo products.
Jena and Gera
Goethe and Schiller, along with other intellectuals, were also associated with Jena, a university town since 1558, not far from Weimar just off the east-west A4. But another famous name is that of Zeiss. In 1847 Carl Zeiss, in collaboration with others, started making microscopes. The Optisches Museum sited in the square named after him contains a fascinating display showing the development of optical instruments. The town is also home to the world’s oldest planetarium and Germany’s second oldest Botanical Garden.
The Expressionist artist Otto Dix was a son of Gera and there is a museum dedicated to him. Much of Gera’s history lies below ground – its maze of cellars linking building to building used for beer storage in the Middle Ages.
The Playing Card Town
Further east off the A4 but not far from Gera is the playing card town of Altenburg. Altenburg has been making playing cards for some 400 years – and it was here that Skat, said to be Germany’s favourite card game, evolved. There is even a statue/fountain dedicated to card players. The town has been described as ‘stately and handsome’, probably because it was once home to the dukes of Saxe-Altenburg. Certainly many of its streets are lined with handsome coloured buildings. But it is chiefly its Schloss (castle) and the Lindenau museum that draw visitors to Altenburg.
The castle, perched on a rocky outcrop, looks down over the town. It is an amazing building with a jumble of architectural styles. In it is a museum dedicated to playing cards. Best by far for many visitors is its Gothic chapel, with its glorious rich interior and star-studded vaulted nave. Just a short walk away across the castle grounds is the Lindenau museum. The museum displays the result of a collection made by Bernhard August von Lindenau in the 18th century of antique Greek and Roman ceramics and also some outstanding Italian art masterpieces, including works by Masaccio and Botticelli.
Arnstadt and Gotha
Head back along the A4 to the west bypassing Weimar and Erfurt and follow the signs to Arnstadt. One of its claims to fame is that at over 1300 years old it is the oldest town in central Germany. Several generations of the Bach family lived in or close by Arnstadt and it was here that Johann Sebastian had his first job as the organist at the church that now bears his name. The town is also home to the unique collection of the dolls of Mon Plaisir and their miniature city.
Twenty-nine kilometres from Arnstadt is Gotha, a small town home to the dukes of Saxe-Coburg some of whose descendants are better known today in Britain as the House of Windsor. It is an attractive small town with elegant houses dominated by the vast Friedenstein Palace. It is worth visiting just to see the elaborate richly decorated rooms let alone its art collections, the Baroque Ekhof Theatre and the English-style gardens.
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginkgo Biloba, familiarly known as the Maidenhair Tree is also known as a living fossil. It belongs to the plant group the Ginkgoales that have been in existence since the days of the dinosaurs.
They would appear to have survived wild in eastern China and for the last 1000 years have been grown in temple gardens and monasteries in both China and Japan, partly for the trees health giving qualities. (Pharmaceutical research continues to be made today.)
Seeds of the tree were brought to Europe at the end of the 17th century, having been discovered in Japan by the German Engelbert Kaempfer, where they were successfully cultivated. A century later many of the gardens and pleasure grounds of the European aristocracies were designed in the fashionable English landscape style with the addition of ‘exotic’ specimen plants. The elegant Ginkgo Biloba with its glorious autumn foliage was a perfect tree.
Weimar’s Duke Carl August was interested both in botany and ornamental gardens and sent his gardener to study at Kew Gardens in England. The gardener returned introducing the tree to Weimar at the Duke’s Belvedere Palace. Goethe shared the Duke’s interest in botany and was so fascinated by the tree with its pretty, distinctive fan shaped leaves that he wrote the poem ‘Ginkgo Biloba’.
It turned out that the seeds were easy to propagate and from a palace garden to the streets of Weimar was a natural transition. The handsome trees adapt well to urban environments being able to tolerate pollution and rarely suffer diseases. (Following the 1945 Hiroshima atom bomb explosion six trees which were growing within a few feet of the blast not only survived, though badly charred, they recovered and flourished.
Eisenach and the Wartburg
Eisenach lies almost on the border of Thuringia on the edge of the Thuringia Forest. It was founded at the end of the 12th century by Ludwig 1. J.S Bach was born here, and in the yellow house that bears his name is a museum dedicated to his memory. The half-timbered house where Martin Luther lodged with the Cotta family when he was a student has also become a museum retelling the story of the Reformation. Luther was to return to Eisenach to preach in 1521, in spite of having been excommunicated.
Luther was given refuge in the Wartburg the massive castle that sits astride a rocky ridge high above the town – a very steep, long climb from Eisenach. The Wartburg (another of Thuringia’s UNESCO sites) was founded by Ludwig der Springer about 1067 and so named because Ludwig when out hunting one day was so impressed by the dramatic scenery he called out ‘Wait mountain [Wart’Burg], you shall have my castle’, or so the story goes.
The guided tours march visitors on a pace pausing hardly long enough to catch breath even in front of the simple room where Luther, heavily disguised as Junker Jӧrg, threw an inkpot at a devil who was distracting him as he worked translating the Bible into German.
Visitors standing in the banqueting hall are sometimes known to experience a strong feeling of déjà vu. They will almost certainly have visited Neuschwanstein. King Ludwig II was so enchanted by the hall that he had it recreated in his fantasy castle in Bavaria.
Back in Eisenach and considerably more modern is the Automobile Welt. On display are a variety of vehicles from 1898.
Green and pleasant
Eisenach acts as a gateway to the vast Thuringian Forest, one of the most beautiful, unspoilt, areas in Germany. Every now and then this enchanted forest gives way to meadows and streams, whilst captivatingly pretty villages and half-timbered small towns like Schmalkalden almost convince visitors that they have stumbled into a fairytale. There are numerous cycle and hiking trails through the forest including the 168 kilometre Rennsteig, making it perfect countryside to explore by foot or bike.
In fact there are over 16,000 kilometres of hiking/cycling paths in Thuringia. Another poplar trail is the Point Alpha which runs along the former Cold War border between the East and West. For something really different walk the treetop trail in the Hainich National Park for a birds’ eye view of the countryside. And why not put your best foot forward along the 18 kilometre Goethewanderweg from Ilmenau. The list of trails goes on and on.
Apart from the charm of Thuringia’s countryside there are parks and gardens a plenty too creating green lungs in city centres. One of the most delightful is just outside the walls of the spa town of Bad Langensalza – not for nothing is the town known as the Town of Towers and Gates. The town itself is well worth a visit but for many people the chief attraction is its gardens: the glorious Rose Garden (over 11,000 roses) and museum, a Botanic Garden and Japanese Garden complete with teahouse.
Whilst you are in Thuringia track down glass makers at Ilmenau, the fairy grottoes of Saalfeld ; the Panorama museum at Bad Frankenhausen and see whether Barbarossa is dozing in the close by Barbarossahӧhle – one of Europe’s largest gypsum cave; learn about the Peasants’ War at Mülhausen; view Europe’s largest crystal cave at Friedrichroda; cruise the reservoirs near Saalfeld; take a steam train from Nordhausen on a narrow gauge railway into the Harz mountains; follow the Thuringian Porcelain route; sample the local beer and schnapps and certainly don’t miss out Thuringia’s very special grilled sausages.
But as the visitors who have already fallen under the Thuringian spell know it’s not just those sausages that make Thuringia, Germany’s green and cultural heart, such a loved and very special place.