Welcome to Thuringia. Thuringia is a guarantee of very special hospitality as a traditional holiday area. Set right Welcome at the heart of Germany this state has both – beautiful countryside and cities with a past as exciting as their present. Where else can you find such a wealth of culture in such a small area as here! There are mighty fortresses, castles, monasteries and churches in cities full Contents of history, such as Erfurt, the state capital, Weimar, the city of literary classics and the Bauhaus, Eisenach, the home of the Wartburg Castle or Jena, the city of the sciences. What is more, there are many UNESCO World Heritage Sites to be found everywhere and visitors meet at every turn with famous personages, like Martin Luther or J. S. Bach, Goethe and Schiller, Liszt and Wagner, Gropius and Feininger. Thuringia’s delightful countryside has been a paradise for both active and relaxing holidays for generations and our renowned, true hospitality will guarantee you an unforgettable stay. You will be enthralled! Contents Event highlights 14 Thuringia̓s cities and towns 04 Crafts and traditions 16 Famous personalities 08 Hospitable Thuringia 17 Thuringia – a treasure trove right at Castles and palaces 10 Contact and service 18 Nature and activities 12 Map and travel information 19 the centre of Germany. View02 to Arnstadt and Wachsenburg Castle 03 A chain of fascinating cities like pearls on a string. Welcome to medieval Erfurt, to Classical Weimar and to Eisenach, the town of Johann Sebastian Bach, Martin Luther and Wartburg Castle. Thuringia’s cities breathe more than a thousand years of his- tory. Right up to the present day, they feature medieval for- tresses and fortifi cations, royal palaces, parks, impressive Renaissance, Baroque and Art Nouveau buildings, theatres and orchestras rich in tradition, valuable libraries and art collections. The very stones have a tale to tell in the fascinat- ing and lovingly restored Old Towns, where people love to meet in coff ee houses and the pedestrian shopping areas entice visitors to dawdle awhile. Fish Market, Erfurt More than 1,260 years old, the state capital of ERFURT in- vites visitors to encounter the Middle Ages cast in stone. Meticulously restored houses and churches still bear wit- ness today to the wealth of the once powerful trading and university city, which boasts one of the best preserved listed medieval city centres under protection order in Germany. The impressive ensemble of St. Mary’s Cathedral and St. Severus Church belongs to the city’s most photographed sights. In In the middle of Erfurt’s Old Town, the 125-metre long the autumn of 2011, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a large- Krämerbrücke (Merchants’ Bridge) spans the River Gera, scale mass at the cathedral square imposingly framed by supported by seven mighty wooden arches. Completely cov- these two churches. ered by 32 houses, it is the longest of its kind in Europe. German National Theatre, Weimar From the former Petersberg fortress, with its underground maze of passageways that can be visited, the view stretches across Erfurt’s Old Quarter as far as WEIMAR, which owes its fame to both the literary classics and the revolutionary Centuries-old memorials Fascinating UNESCO World Bauhaus movement. Poets, painters, musicians and archi- to Jewish life. Heritage Sites in the fi elds of tects, such as Goethe, Schiller and Cranach, Liszt, Gropius and Nietzsche, chose to live here and made it what it is today Synagogues, historic homes, cemeteries and culture and nature. – namely a centre of German intellectual life. But Weimar mikvehs are among the authentic testimonies to Thuringia boasts sites included in the UNESCO World also stands for the two faces of history – at the heart of the Jewish life in Thuringia. Many of them are today Heritage list in the fi elds of both culture and nature. city is the German National Theatre long directed by Goethe used as museums or serve as meeting-places and The following have received this internationally coveted and founding site of the Weimar Republic whereas outside can be visited. Smaller Thuringian towns, such as quality seal: medieval Wartburg Castle near Eisenach, Mühlhausen (synagogue with library), Sonders- the city gates stands Buchenwald Memorial site, the former Weimar Summer – arts, music and culture where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into hausen (mikveh with the foundation walls of concentration camp. German in only 10 weeks; the Bauhaus founded by Wal- the former synagogue), Bleicherode (former ter Gropius in Weimar, with a museum and the model synagogue in the “Alte Kanzlei“) or Heiligenstadt home “Am Horn”; the “Classic Weimar” complex, to Another pearl shining on our string is EISENACH, situated (cemetery), have venues equally as impressive as Thuringia’s capital which homes, castles, parks, a library, a church and a at the foot of the famous Wartburg Castle, a UNESCO World city of Erfurt. After exciting new discoveries were made, there is now cemetery belong, associated with the names of famous Heritage Site. This is where St. Elisabeth, the Hungarian prin- an attractive complex, consisting of the synagogue, mikveh and people like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich cess and Thuringian Landgravine (1207-1231) spent most cemetery in close proximity and commemorating the signifi cant Schiller and Gottfried Herder and the Hainich National Jewish presence in medieval Erfurt. In the “Alte Synagoge” museum, of her short life and this is where Martin Luther and Johann Park, an outstanding area where old beech woods have exhibits include a gold and silver treasure; which has already been Sebastian Bach went to school. Contemporarily designed been left in their natural state and with the unique at- exhibited and admired in New York, London and other cities. The authentic venues commemorate the reformer M. Luther and traction of a treetop trail along which visitors can walk absolute star of the treasure is a golden wedding ring almost fi ve and enjoy spectacular views. the composer and organist J. S. Bach but there is also a fas- centimetres in height, one of only three surviving examples of this cinating museum dedicated to the city’s over hundred-year- invaluable item world-wide. old tradition of automobile construction. Luther House, Eisenach 04 www.visit-thuringia.com www.visit-thuringia.com 05 Divi Blasii Church, Ilmenau Town Hall and Medieval town centre Mühlhausen Goethe monument of Schmalkalden Schiller House, Rudolstadt Lindenau Museum, Altenburg MEININGEN, from which the famous Thuringian dumplings are oldest Botanical Gardens, the Schiller University and the large said to originate; RUDOLSTADT with the mighty Heidecksburg town church where Luther preached. Real gems are Residential Castle and the Schiller House, picturesquely situated also half-timbered MÜHLHAUSEN with its venues Hidden gems to be discovered. on the River Saale; the medieval half-timbered town of SCHMAL- commemorating the German Peasants’ War and KALDEN; the playing-card town of ALTENBURG with its castle and its Divi Blasii Church where J. S. Bach once was Altenburg, Meiningen, Rudolstadt, Jena, Gera, Gotha and other towns with museum of playing cards, theatre and collections of European organist; the miners’ town of SONDERSHAUSEN, a great historical past have exciting sights just waiting to be seen. art in the Lindenau Museum; the university town of ILMENAU also a town of music and formerly a royal with Kickelhahn Hill where Goethe wrote his world-famous poem residence with an impressive castle; “Wanderer’s Night Song”; SUHL, the historical weapon town, NORDHAUSEN, the starting point of Where historic fl air and contemporary modernity combine to painter Otto Dix (1891 – 1969), is commemorated in the house of ideal starting point for activities in the Thuringian Forest and the Harz narrow-gauge railways that form a harmonious whole, where ancient town walls surround his birth, now used as a museum. The historical core of the town home of a unique Museum of manufactured arms. take their passengers up the Brocken many a beautiful park, where museums and other temples of stands on a medieval underground system of passages and Mountain, the highest point in the muses are to be found behind well-kept historical facades, cellars once used to store beer, the “Höhler”. GOTHA fascinates SAALFELD is renowned for its ”Fairy Grottoes” and their multi- the Harz region, and fi nally where castles, palaces, mansions and churches off er unlimited with its magnifi cent Early Baroque Friedenstein Castle and Park, coloured underground fairytale landscape whereas GREIZ, the APOLDA with its tradition of photo opportunities, where visitors can stroll gently through housing several museums and the Baroque Ekhof Theatre, the former residence of princes, houses a Summer Palace with valu- knit fashions and bell-man- lanes, markets and squares and stop to rest in small cafés and oldest of its kind in the world. Further jewels include the Bach able works of art and a large collection of caricatures. JENA is the ufacturing, popular with in- restaurants – these are Thuringia’s fascinating and many-facet- town of ARNSTADT with an internationally unique collection of town of the traditional-rich optics industry with numerous mu- ternationally renowned fashion The famous monument of the ed towns. One example is the town of GERA, where the German dolls entitled “Mon plaisir”; the theatre and Schiller town of seums, the world’s oldest ZEISS Planetarium, Germany’s second designers and lovers of fi ne arts. young J. S. Bach in Arnstadt Meiningen – Theatre and royal residence town. Arts, music and culture create the atmosphere of the more than thousand year-old for- mer royal residence town of Meiningen. Broad avenues and fi ne buildings alternate with ancient narrow alleys and half-timbered houses. The park with its English gardens, numerous fountains and monuments to the cultural history of the town tempts visitors to take a pleasant walk.