Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt) boasts no less than four UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Martin Luther’s Birthplace at Eisleben, the Old Town of Quedlinberg, the Castle at Wittenberg, and Dessau’s Bauhausstätten. Among the towering scenery of the Harz Mountains, a region ideal for walking and winter sports holidays and dotted with villages with attractive carved timber-fronted houses, lies the town of Wernigerode whose castle and 16th-century Town Hall endow it with a fairytale air. There is a museum of church relics here. On a walk the visitor can see half-timbered houses of six centuries, among them the Crooked House. The Harz is also one of the most beautiful hiking areas in Germany; since December 1989, hikers have been able to enjoy the Brocken (highest point of the Harz) again. Half-timbered houses characterise Stolberg, ‘Pearl of the South Harz region’, where the Town Hall, dating back to 1492, contains no inner staircase. Just to the south lies the city of Halle, birthplace of Handel, and where Martin Luther often preached in the Marienkirche in the Market Square.
South of Halle lies the historic town of Naumburg with its beautiful late Romanesque/early Gothic Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul. A recommended excursion from here takes in the old Hanseatic towns of Salzwedel, Stendal and Tangermünde to see the medieval fortifications.
MAGDEBURG: Located on the banks of the Elbe to the southwest of Berlin, Magdeburg is state capital. It has a busy arts scene. One of its most popular attractions is the Elbauenpark on the river, with the tallest wooden tower in the world, the Millennium Tower. The tower contains an exhibition on 6000 years of human development. Cathedral Square, with its Gothic church surrounded by Baroque buildings, stands at the heart of the old city centre, with the Old Market Square (site of the Magdeburg Knight monument) and the Town Hall.
DESSAU: ‘Second home’ of the Bauhaus Architectural School, which moved from Weimar in the mid-1920s, and whose building, the Bauhausstätten, designed by Walter Gropius, is a designated World Heritage Site.
QUEDLINBURG: 55km (34 miles) southwest of Magdeburg, this town has many 16th-century half-timbered houses such as the Finkenherd and a Renaissance Town Hall, all restored to their original condition.
WITTENBERG: One of the most famous Reformation towns, where Martin Luther nailed his ‘95 Theses Against Indulgences’ to the door of the castle church in 1517. Numerous magnificent buildings from the 16th century – Luther’s House, the Melanchton House, the Castle Church and the buildings of the former University bear witness to the town’s historical significance.
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