We look forward to seeing you! Enjoyable Worth knowing Worth discovering Worth visiting - historic water tunnels Worth exploring Thuringian Castle Country Drei Gleichen lies at the foot of The legendary Drei Gleichen castles are the landmarks of Bach Family Place of Origin - Wechmar Schwabhausen Grabsleben Hiking in the Thuringian Castle Country Drei Gleichen Contact: the Thuringian Forest Mountain Range. This unique our region. The story goes that one night in May during the with its nature protection areas is a very pleasurable World famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach comes - Trinitatis Church, altar with triptych - St. Magdalena Church Tourist information and GeoInfocentre Drei Gleichen landscape is home to numerous rare plants and animals 13th century, all three castles were struck by lightning and experience! The trails along the northern slopes of the from a line of simple musicians and minstrels. The town - Reconstruction of a clubhouse in the style of a long - Information point Wächsbrunnen along St. James Way Kulturscheune - OT Mühlberg and abounds with outstanding geological attractions as set on fire simultaneously, burning so brightly that the whole mountains pass through shady forests with pleasant of Wechmar is the cradle of the Bach family of musicians. house from the Linear pottery period (Fig. 8) with rock Thomas-Müntzer-Str. 4, 99869 Drei Gleichen well as interesting cultural sites that recall an eventful region was lit up. Cobstädt resting places. This is where stag beetles Fig. 12), eagle history. There, in the historic centre, you can still see the original park and GeoInfoCentre owl and bats live. In the Badlands (see reverse for expla- Tel./Fax: 036256-22846 places where the ancestors of Johann Sebastian Bach - Lutherian Church nation) along the south slopes, you will find species-rich Email: [email protected] Here you can wallow in the romantic stories associated lived and played, including the Bach family residence - Cobstädt Estate with show garden dry and semi-dry meadows, the habitat of protected ani- Opening times: Wed-Sun with old buildings, enjoy pure nature, give yourself a work- (Fig. 6) and the Veit-Bach-Mühle. Other places of interest mals such as the sand lizard and the Dorcadion beetle. out (Fig. 1), find inspiration and let your spirit flow. Our are Sankt Viti church, the largest village church in Großrettbach from April to October 10 am - 5 pm hosts can meet all your culinary and accommodation Thuringia and the manor house Studnitz with a wonderful - St. Gotthard Church from November to March 10 am - 4 pm requirements and the Thuringian cuisine will satisfy even Rococo hall, built in 1700. - Natural monument “Sinkholes on the Geierhügel“ www.drei-gleichen.de the most discerning gourmet. Sülzenbrücken Imprint: Abb. 3 - St. Wigberti Church Fig. 8 Drei Gleichen - Geotope Salzquelle (“Salty Spring”) Regionaler Förderverein (Association for Regional Promotion) Haarhausen Mühlburg Castle (Fig. 2 and 3): the oldest castle of the Günthersleben Thüringer Burgenland – Drei Gleichen e.V. Drei Gleichen Area, first recorded in 704. The complex - St. Nicolas Church Chairperson: Jens Leffler - St. Peter Church includes the remains of the Radegundis chapel and a - Geotope Schottergrube (gravel pit) - experimental archaeology site Authors: lovingly designed museum with changing exhibitions - premises of the former water castle with GeoInfoCentre Fig. 6 and regional history exhibition (Fig. 9 and 18) Fig. 12 Wolfgang Schröter, Eva Kochlett, Volker Felsberg, (open March to October) Bittstädt (advance reservation: 036256-22846) Nancy Schröter, Stephan Brauner, Sylvia Reyer-Rohde - St. Giles Church: has Romanesque origins and is Design: Antje Raßloff Menantes Town - Wandersleben Mühlberg (one of the oldest towns in Thuringia) one of the oldest churches of the region. Photos: Fig. 1 - with well-preserved historic town centre The poet Christian Friedrich Hunold (pseudonym Holzhausen Nationaler GeoPark Thüringen Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen Menantes) was born in Wandersleben in 1680. He is one - Baroque St. Luke Church with Radegundis - Holy Trinity Church (K. Fohlert, S. Brauner, N. Schröter, P. Rohde), of the most significant authors of late Baroque German memorial chapel - Otto-Knöpfer-House (Fig. 10) Fig. 13 Kulturscheune Mühlberg, romances. More than this, he was also a remarkable - 1. German Bratwurst Museum There are many ways to explore the Drei Gleichen Area: - Oil and pot barley mill Roland Bellstedt (Fig. 13,14), Klaus Bogon (Fig. 12), satirist and penned poems that were set to music by by bicycle, by horse or on foot: - Karst spring “Mühlberger Spring“ Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann Jürgen Schneider (Figs. 3,4,5) Fig. 4 - Cycle route Thuringian Town Tour among others. The Menantes-Literature-Memorial con- - GeoInfoCentre Kulturscheune with exhibition Map: © mr-kartographie Gotha (Thüringer Städtekette) tains a fascinating exhibition of the life and work of this about the Triassic and the researcher interesting author. Prof. Hermann Müller from Mühlberg - Bach Experience Cycle Tour Wachsenburg Castle (Fig. 4): Abbot Meingoth of Hersfeld (Bach-Rad-Erlebnisroute) - Golf course (18-hole) at the Ringhofen Estate Abbey laid the foundation stone in 936; completely preserved Another curiosity of this town is the medieval keep (Fig. 7). GeoPark management office: - Campsite Drei Gleichen Fig. 14 - Graf-Gleichen-Trail castle complex with hotel, restaurant, museum and wedding This was once the seat of a dynasty during the 13th cen- e.t.a. Sachverständigenbüro Reyer - Gustav-Freytag-Trail chapel (open all year) tury and was only rediscovered in 1985. A keep is the Haarbergstraße 37, 99097 Erfurt smallest type of castle. Seebergen Fig. 10 Tel.: 0361-4229000, Fax.: 0361-4229005 - Otto-Knöpfer-Trail Gleichen Castle (Fig. 5): first officially recorded in 1089; - St. George Church with Hesse organ Enjoy the happy song of the kingfisher (Fig. 14), the - 5 GeoRoutes (see reverse side of flyer) notorious for the legend about the double-wedded Count Other interesting sites are St. Peter Church, which boasts colourful meadow orchards and most of all enjoy the rich Email: [email protected] a Schröder organ and the stone crosses near the - Hermann-Löns-Monument von Gleichen; permanent natural history exhibition of local diversity of rare plants including the Adonis (Fig. 13) and 1. Edition, Jan. 2019 Freudenthal (Fig. 11). - Geotope Bergbeule Röhrensee many orchids. flora, fauna, soil & geology (open all year) All Information subject to typographical and - St. Nicolas Church printing errors without liability. Fig. 2 www.thueringer-geopark.de The leaflet is also available in German. THURINGIAN CASTLE COUNTRY DREI GLEICHEN DREI GLEICHEN THURINGIAN CASTLE COUNTRY Fig. 5 Fig. 7 Fig. 9 Fig. 11 Fig. 15 Note: This overview map is not Rocks can Talk The landscape of the Drei Gleichen area is characterised by DREI GLEICHEN-REGION Exploring Pangaea in the Seeberg Trail GeoRoute 5 the numerous small hills and mounds that are lined up like National GeoPark Thuringia a trail map. You will find regional This hike takes you from Gotha across the Seeberg with all trail maps in the GeoInfoCentre Everyone has a different thrilling life story to tell. You don’t a string of pearls. Over millions of years, the rocks were Inselsberg - Drei Gleichen its quarries to Günthersleben-Wechmar. Kulturscheune Mühlberg. think so? The geopark exposes the fascinating and eventful continuously uplifted, broken, downthrusted and faulted. geological history that is recorded in the rocks. We invite These processes jumbled the original chronological Category: thematic hiking trail and cycle path There are 5 GeoRoutes for you to explore the Drei Gleichen- Difficulty: easy to moderate you into another world to explore Pangaea, the most recent sequence of the rock strata in what is known as a fault Area of the Geopark: Length of the GeoRoute: approx. 32 km supercontinent where all today’s continents were united. zone. You can observe the enormity of the geological forces Points of interest: 19 at work here in the Haarhausen gravel pit (Fig. 21): the Around 240 million years ago, a sub-tropical inland sea strata have been tilted to near vertical! Panorama Trail GeoRoute 2 covered parts of Pangaea: the Muschelkalk Sea. Many Discover the secrets of the colourful mudstones and how to marvellous animals lived in it such as ammonites (Fig. 20) make alum along the Panaroma Route. On top of that, this Geo and Pleasure Trail "From Beer to Bratwurst" and the coelacanths (Fig. 19). You can dive into this distant trail offers fascinating views of the Drei Gleichen Area. GeoRoute 17 habitat at the GeoInfoCentre Kulturscheune Mühlberg. Category: thematic hiking trail How important is the fertile soil of the region for the Difficulty: easy to moderate development of the cultural landscape and the culi- Length of the GeoRoute: approx. 17 km nary traditions found here? You will find the answers Points of interest: 19 along this trail between Arnstadt and Holzhausen. The information points include attractive sculptures, Fig. 19 Castle Trail GeoRoute 3 real soil profiles and an audioguide (Fig. 17). Fig. 21 This trail lets you look far and wide into the landscape from Category: thematic hiking trail the three castles as well as deep into our Earth: what did Difficulty: easy to moderate the landscape of the Drei Gleichen Area look like 240 mil- Distance: approx. 16 km A characteristic feature of the region are the gentle forms The soils that developed from the rocks tell us more recent lion years ago? Action stations: 15 and bright colours of the so-called Badlands (Fig. 22). stories: the settlement history of our region is very closely Category: thematic hiking trail These sparsely vegetated landscapes are very rare in linked to the geology. Did you know that Mühlberg at the foot Difficulty: easy to moderate Germany. The subsurface rocks have been exposed by the of Mühlburg Castle was first officially recorded in 704 AD, Length of the GeoRoute: approx. 30 km forces of erosion to reveal the different reddish-brown, making it one of the oldest towns in Thuringia? Points of interest: 27 greyish-green to dark-green mudstones.