July 4, Saturday
We drove to Wittenberg (a.k.a. Lutherstadt) in the morning. Wittenberg in Luther's day, was an emerging University town. When Friedrich III the Wise (1463 - 1525) became ruler of Saxony he decided to make Wittenberg his residence. It was the home of Professor and Reformer Philip Melanchthon, artist Lucas Cranach the Elder and his son and many other prominent intellectuals. Luther became professor of theology at the University
The first thing that stood out as we approached the historic city was the tower of Castle Church. Only eight years after the completion of the Castle Church on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses against the corrupt sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church. Luther posted the theses in Latin and intended to start an academic debate. However, they were translated into German, quickly copied using the newly invented movable type printing press, and wound up sparking the German Reformation.
We pulled up to the information center which was just across from the Castle Church (left on map). We inquired about a pension with the best possible location relative to the church where Luther’s preached. There was one right at the church for DM 120. We offered DM 100 and they called the pension to see if they would accept that. They did. The Stadtkirche or Luther’s Sermon Church was located just down the street past the Rathaus where the church tower is on the extreme right on the map.
Our accommodations were at the Cafe am Holzmark. This was the closest building to the church. The view of the church seen on the left is the same as from the window of our room. We walked over to the chapel on called the Corpus Christ Chapel the left in the picture. It is believed that from here Luther, in 1518 appealed to the pope to call a council to make a decision on his heresy trial.
Martin Luther preached many sermons in this church and was also married here. All of his children were baptized here. A large painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder is above the altar showing Luther receiving the cup at the Last Supper.
Just outside the church we read an inscription on a 1988 memorial to the six million Jews who died at Auschwitz. The reason given that this plaque was placed here is to compensate for a sculpture above the memorial that is very offensive to Jews. That mocking “Jewish Pig” 1304 sculpture is still visible on the church. Long before Luther there was German hostility toward Jews.
Down the street, along the Cultural Mile was the Lucas Cranach House (lower right on map).
Lucas Cranach is well known for his woodcuts (right) Frederick the Wise attached Cranach to his court in 1504. Cranach, like his patron, was friendly with the Protestant Reformers at a very early stage; yet it is difficult to fix the time of his first meeting with Martin Luther. The oldest reference to Cranach in Luther's correspondence dates from 1520. Cranach's presses were used by Martin Luther. Cranach was present as a witness at the betrothal festival of Luther and Katharine von Bora. He was also godfather to their first child, Johannes "Hans" Luther, born 1526.
The largest proportion of Cranach's output is of portraits, and it is chiefly thanks to him that we know what the German Reformers and their princely adherents looked like. He painted not only Martin Luther himself but also Luther's wife, mother and father.
When the ruler of Saxony, Frederick III, invited Cranach to Wittenberg in 1505 to become his court painter, the 33-year-old artist couldn't have suspected that he would spend the next 45 years of his life there. Working as court painter, crafting mainly portraits and scenes from the Bible and mythology, was only part of Cranach's broad career. He even had a pharmacy. In 1512 he bought a house in the center of town for both his family and his flourishing art workshop. Portions of the Cranach House were being renovated when we were there (1998).
At the end (or beginning) of the Cultural Mile was the Castle Church or Schlosskirche, built under Frederick the Great (1489-1525). The famous Theses Door in the center of the building, replaced with a black bronze door (1858) is inscribed with Luther’s 95 Theses. Back in Luther's day, there was a moat on this side of the church and the portals had to be approached by footbridges over the water.
We were determined to spend much time inside this church because of the many points of interest. Below the pulpit was a simple bronze plaque on a stone base indicating the place Luther was buried on February 22, 1546, four days after his death in Eisleben. This site received considerable attention from the church guide.
The burial sites of other prominent people in the life of Luther were included in the church, like that of Philip Melanchthon and Frederick the Wise. The tomb of Frederick the Wise is at right.
There were many statues of individuals associated with the Reformation, like this one of Johannes Bugenhagen. "Doctor Pommer," as Luther called him, became one of the most effective reformers. He was not only active as Wittenberg's town priest room 1523 onwards, Luther`s personal spiritual adviser and theology lecturer at the Wittenberg University, but also an exceptionally good organizer and indispensable for the Reformation in northern Germany and Scandinavia. After Martin Luther's death Bugenhagen attended to his widow and children.
We stepped outside the church and there across the street was the Justus Jonas Haus. During Luther's stay in the Wartburg, Jonas was one of the most active of the Wittenberg reformers. Giving himself up to preaching and polemics, he aided the Reformation by his gift as a translator, turning Luther's and Melanchthon's works into German or Latin. Jonas also assisted Luther with his translation of the Bible into German. He was busied in conferences (including a prominent role in the Reformation conferences at Marburg (1529) and Augsburg (1530). In 1546 he was present at Luther's deathbed at Eisleben, and preached the funeral sermon;
Now we went back whence we came and concentrate on the other half of the Cultural Mile, east of our pension. We walked past Wittenberg University reminding us that Frederick the Wise founded the University in 1503 and that Luther taught Biblical theology here.
A little further from the University was the house of Philipp Melanchthon. This home was given him as a present from Frederick the Wise. It now serves as a museum to his life and works
Then towards the end of this half of the Cultural Mile was the Augusteum, built in the 16th century for the expansion of the University. This is the large cloister that Martin Luther used as a home. The Luther family, wife and six children, and various students and visitors lived in the central part of the building. When the monastery was closed, Frederick the Wise gave the home to Luther and his family.
We looked inside the Luther Haus. Luther’s living room was the setting of the famous conversations held with university students, recorded in Table Talk beginning in 1531. It was also from here that Martin and Katie Luther's wedding procession left for the nearby City Church of St. Mary.
We returned to the pension (Room #1). Just outside our cafe/pension was a beautiful Fountain of Youth monument. We ate dinner in the restaurant connected to our pension. On this picture you can see a little bit of Luther’s Sermon Church on the left. Wonderful location for our lodging.
There was a special English worship service scheduled for 6:30 pm in Luther;s Sermon Church (a.k.a. St. Mary’s). We had hoped to hear German liturgy, the church organ and possibly a choir in this historic church. Actually, the service was with music lacking accompaniment and everything quite informal. The Missouri Synod pastor who conducted the service had visited this church a few years back and felt a calling to set up his own English services. He preached on “Mission Minded Servants” -- the need to witness for Christ and His forgiveness of sins.
After the church service we attended the Hofkoncert in front of the nearby Rathaus,The music was wonderful. That is a Luther monument in the foreground. To the right is Luther’s Sermon Church.
During intermission we stepped over to our pension/cafe for a Black Forest dessert.
When we returned to the concert is was getting dark. Nice romantic setting.
July 5, Sunday
We knew that we simply had to spent more time in Wittenberg, especially at the Augustinian monastery where Luther lived, with its comprehensive Reformation museum. The cost was DM 7 each, but it was worth it,
The Lutherhalle: This Luther Museum boasts the world's most important collection of objects related to the history of the German Reformation, including Luther's own desk, the pulpit from which he preached at the Stadtkirche, his teaching robe, and first editions of his books. For Luther pilgrims and history buffs, there is no better collection of relics. Among the trivia is a thimble belonging to Luther’s mother and even boyhood clay marbles of Luther (pictured above).
We found Luther’s robe which was made around 1517.
All good things must come to a close and we bid farewell to Wittenberg. We drove on to Kothen, a city associated with Lutheranism and Bach.
The town has long been known to classical music enthusiasts as the place of origin of J. S. Bach's best-known secular works, including the Brandenburg concertos and the Well-Tempered Clavier. J. S. Bach worked in Kothen from 1717 to 1723 as Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen.Köthen (Cöthen) was the scene of some of Bach’s happiest and most fruitful years. He was in the employ of the young music-loving Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen and it was probably for his sizable and highly skilled orchestra that the Brandenburg Concertos were written.
This Hall of Mirrors in the Castle is where Bach's music is now often performed is a popular attraction. It can be seen on DVD in the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra's recording of the Brandenburg Concertos. Since 1967 a biannual Bach Festival has been held at Kothen, in the various halls of the castle as well as the local churches
Bach played the organ for St. Jacob church in Kothen.
Across the Market Square is the prominent Town Hall or Rathaus.
We continued on to Quedlinburg. In 1994 UNESCO cited the city “as an extraordinary example of a medieval European city”. Over a thousand years ago Henry I and his son Otto elevated Quedlinburg to the center of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 15th century the city flourish and joined the Hanseatic League in 1426.
We were able to obtain an unbelievable pension that was a historic timbered frame building located right next to the ivy-clad Rathaus, Everything of historical significance was right there. The pension cost was only DM 90 per night.
Our pension, just to the right of the yellow umbrella, included a restaurant.
We spent much time walking around the large Market Square (below) surrounded by beautifully restored buildings.
July 6, Monday
After breakfast we explored the old city by walking its cobbled streets. Quaint houses displayed a wide variety of bays, gables and decorative touches, The Standrerbau, shown here, has been designated the oldest house in Quedlinburg (1310).
As we left old town we stopped briefly at the Mathiuldenbrunn fountain (right) with the St. Nikoli Church towers in the background.
This was followed with a drive up to the Castle and the Romanesque church of St. Servatius, the final resting place of Emperor Henry I. After Henry's death in 936, his widow Saint Mathilda founded a religious community for women ("Frauenstift") on the castle hill, where daughters of the higher nobility were educated.
The main task of this collegiate foundation, Quedlinburg Abbey (where the Annals of Quedlinburg were compiled), was to pray for the memory of King Henry and the rulers that came after him. The castle and the cathedral still towers above the city the way they dominated the town in early Middle Ages.
Our rental car was parked at a distance from the pension and we had a hefty walk to retrieve it. We drove on to Lutherstadt Eisleben. See map.
In 1483 Luther’s parents cane from Thurgia to Eisleben to take up employment in the rising copper industry.
Martin Luther was born here to Hans and Magarete Luder (the Reformer altered the spelling of his surname) in this modest, half-timbered house on Lange Strasse (now Lutherstrasse). Luther's birth house opened to the public in 1693 as the first memorial museum in Germany.
The future "Father of the Reformation" was baptized the following day at the nearby Church of St. Peter and Paul and named after St. Martin of Tours, whose feast day is November 11. The Luther family moved from Eisleben to Mansfeld in 1484.
The Market Square has a larger-than life statue of Martin Luther created in 1883 by R. Seimering. It was consecrated on the occasion of the 400th birthday of Martin Luther in 1883. In Martin Luther´s hands are the bible and the papal bull. Around the pedestal are carvings depicting scenes from Martin Luther´s life. The prosperity evident here was due to the copper mining and the copper smelting industry of the time. The west side of the Market Square is bordered by the town hall (1519 - 1533)
Luther's Death House. Luther passed away on 18 February 1546 at the age of 62, He had come to mediate a dispute between the Counts of Mansfield, but the journey from Wittenberg had weakened him. The house was built in 1498.
An exhibition here provides information about Luther's work in Mansfelder Land. The exhibits include a replica of the death mask and hands and a copy of the translation of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek which Luther translated into German.
We left Eisleben amid road construction and detours to locate a pension in Eisenach.
We found a perfect pension -- the timber framed Zum Burschen (below).
We arrived around dinner time. The husband and wife team served us a great German dinner and Eisenacher Wartburg Pils.
July 7, Tuesday
We allotted a full morning for a tour of Luther’s Wartburg. Just a few minutes from our hotel we could see the famous castle in the distance. The Wartburg Schloss, built between 1067 and the 16th century, stands on a hill 600 feet above the town. Our car had to be parked midway making it necessary to walk up a graded pathway to reach the entrance.
At the gateway we met an ELCA pastor from Lynchberg, Virginia who was leading a group of young people from two congregations. Friendly gentleman.
Luther was brought here by friends for his protection after the Diet of Worms. He lived incognito at the Wartburg and called himself Junker Jörg (Knight George) and "grew his hair and a beard."
Luther devoted himself to a new task. He translated the New Testament from its original Greek into German within eleven weeks.
After touring the Wartburg, we walked back to the parking lot for our car. From here we stopped at a restaurant at the base of the hill and took in apple strudel and hot coffee in a small hotel restaurant. Price was very reasonable.
Eisenach is also associated with Johann Sebastian Bach who was born here in 1685. Just outside his birth place was a nice statue of him by Donndorf.
The monument was constructed in 1884. Bach was baptized at St. George's Church where members of the Bach family were employed as organists from 1665 to 1797. Martin Luther was a choir boy here at St. George and then preached here in 1521 on his journey to and from the imperial parliament in Worms. St. George Church on the right. Bach attended the Latin School, where previously, Martin Luther had been a pupil.
The Bachhaus was the first museum worldwide to be dedicated to the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1906. The house is over 600 years old and stands near the place of the house where Bach was born.
The Bachhaus contains many mementos of the Bach family, along with a collection of musical instruments. A local church organist explained and then performed on these instruments.
The Lutherhaus (Luther House) in Eisenach is where Martin Luther lived as a schoolboy with the Cotta family from 1498 to 1501. The present building is a half-timbered structure dating mainly from the 16th and 18th centuries, but it encloses the original home of the Cottas and preserves the two rooms used by Luther.
Sketch of Luther with Ursula Cotta at right.
The Markt and Rathaus. The main town square with a pinky-salmon Rathaus, also a fountain with a golden Saint George killing the dragon and an 18th century palace.
We took route 7 for a panoramic vista of the Thurgingian Hills as we traveled 34 miles to Erfurt. Fortunately Erfurt had emerged from WW II relatively unscathed.
Our first stop was the Kaufmann Square (right hand side of map).1522 - 22. October - Luther preached a sermon on "the cross and suffering" in the old market church of Erfurt "Zum Kaufmännern" (The Merchant's Church).
The Kaufmannskirche, with a richly decorated interior by local Renaissance masters. The parents of Johann Sebastian Bach were married in this church. In Erfurt's Kaufmannskirche church 61 Bach children were baptized and 12 Bach couples were married. For 200 years members of Bach family dominated Erfurt's music.
Our next site was this very special bridge (below) may well be regarded as Erfurt’s most outstanding sight. Replacing a wooden structure, this stone bridge was built across a fairly wide stretch of the River Gera in 1325. After the great fire in 1472, the city built 62 houses with shops and living quarters for the merchants who had been plying their trades at the bridge. The floor space of the bridge was increased by the additional masonry placed in front of the bridge walls and by wooden strut bracing. After I crossed the bridge, I walked around to see what it looked like underneath.
From the bridge we walked over to the Rathaus. The neo-Gothic town-hall at the Fischmarkt was built between 1870 and 1874. Inside the stairwells and the Festsaal (main function hall) there are numerous wall paintings depicting legends and scenes from the life of Luther as well as pictures illustrating the history of Thuringia and Erf.
Then we came to the ecclesiastical center of town called the Domburg, where two medieval churches dominate the scene -- the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the St. Severus Church. These two magnificent examples of German Gothic architecture at its best majestically dominate the cityscape. The "Gloriosa" (1497), the "Queen of Bells," has been praised for centuries throughout Europe for its magnificent resonance. Luther was ordained a priest in this cathedral on April 4, 1507.
We walked down Allerheiligen to Michaeliskirche, the church used by University students like Luther. Luther later preached here in 1522.
One of our main objectives was to visit the Augustinian monastery where Luther was a monk. Martin Luther attended the University of Erfurt and received his bachelor's and master's degrees of theology there. Luther lived there as a student from 1501 to 1511 and, as a monk, from 1505 to 1511.
Luther as a monk. Photo quality is poor because this was taken from a videotape.
It was getting late so we headed 14 miles east to Weimar to look up Pension Kux that had been recommended by Professor Hartwig. But we arrived too late and they were full.
We did find another pension called Bohmer. It was nice and the price DM 60. Photo quality is poor because this was taken from a videotape.
GO ON TO 1998 EASTERN GERMANY PART III: WEIMAR....
Martin Luther attended the University of Erfurt and received his bachelor's and master's degrees of theology there. Luther lived there as a student from 1501 to 1511 and, as a monk, from 1505 to 1511.
No comments:
Post a Comment