Tom`s travels: Wörlitz & Wittenberg (19/09/2020)

On another day trip, this time with my girlfriend Ania, we decided to head south of Berlin and reach the town of Wörlitz first. In order to get there, we took a regional train to the city of Wittenberg and from there a local bus which in about 30 minutes took us to the destination. The town is a small settlement located right inside the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, one of the first and largest English parks in Germany and continental Europe. and a Unesco World Heritage Site. The park was created under the regency of Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau during the late 18th century as a way to move on from the formal garden concept of the Baroque era in favor of a naturalistic landscape strongly influenced by the ideals of The Enlightenment. As we got off the bus we walked through the nice small town of Wörlitz, which came to be after the construction of the park, as it happened with other palaces and large residences around Europe. We passed by and visited the town's main church, the Neogothic St Peter's Church built in 1809, with a rather nice still Neoclassical interior. Next to the church we then entered the park proper, with the elegant Wörlitz Palace at its center, built in 1773 as a residence for Duke Leopold and his wife Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, and the first Neoclassical building in present-day Germany. From the Palace, we then followed the main trail which took us around the small lake, Wörlitzersee. We passed by some nice buildings part of the landscape park such as the Eisenhart, built in bog iron, the Floratempel and Venustempel, replicas of ancient greek/roman temples, and the Gotisches Haus, built in 1774 and one of the first Neo-Gothic structures on the continent. Here we found a small imbiss, a food stand, where we took some food to go with the sandwiches we had brought from home. After eating we then continued our walk through the nice park and reached the eastern end where the small Villa Hamilton was located. Right next to the church was an extremely interesting and unexpected feature: on an artificial island, in 1782, Leopold III had his architects build an artificial volcano. In fact, just twenty years earlier the duke had done one of those typical Grand Tours the European aristocracy loved to do and had been captivated by a trip to Naples in which he saw a smoldering Mount Vesuvius. Thus on his return, he wished to somehow recreate it and surprise and astonish his guests and visitors by having that artificial structure spew out fire and smoke thanks to the fireplaces built inside. Today it is still Europe’s only artificial volcano. From the volcano, we decided it was time to head back towards town and manage to get the bus that would bring us back to Wittenberg. After reaching the city, we headed towards its city center on foot. The city is famous for its close connection with Martin Luther and the Reformation, having thus received the honorific title of Lutherstadt, together with the city of Eisleben. The city because of its relevance in the Reformation was inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage Site. It also luckily survived any major damage during WWII as it had been spared by bombings from the allies. As we reached the old town from the east, we first came upon the large structure of the Lutherhaus. Originally built in 1504 as an Augustinian monastery and seat of the city's university, in 1507 an unknown monk named Martin Luther was sent to teach and live on the premises. Nowadays the interior can be visited through guided tours with the Lutherstube, Martin Luther's parlor, left as it was five hundred years ago. We decided not to head inside the museum but just admire the nice courtyard with the Renaissance styled buildings around it. From the Lutherhaus we then followed the main street that cuts through the city from east to west and lined with nice historic buildings. We passed by another known building along the way, the Melanchthonhaus, house of another famous Protestant reformer and collaborator of Luther, Philipp Melanchthon. The building is a nice Renaissance house with some late Gothic features. After a bit more walking we then reached one of the two main churches in town, the Stadtkirche. Built during the 15th century in a Gothic style it features two nice bell towers to the side of the main facade. Considered as the mother church of the Protestant Reformation it is here that the first Protestant service was held here by Luther at Christmas 1521 with the first celebration of the mass in German rather than Latin and the first-ever distribution of the bread and wine to the congregation. The interior, among many other objects, holds a splendid altarpiece by Lucas Cranach the Younger. Not far from the church we then passed through the pretty main square, the Marktplatz, surrounded by nice buildings and featuring the statues of Luther and Melanchthon at its center. Continuing along the main street, we then entered a small yet nice courtyard, the Cranach-Höfe, where the painter Lucas Cranach the Elder and his son lived and maintained one of their workshops. Further on we then reached the western end of the old town where the castle once used to stand. Nowadays only part of the buildings that made up the complex is still standing, having been damaged during past wars and left to deteriorate, with only part of the walls and the castle church, or Schlosskirche left. This last church, the All Saint's Church, is the site where the Ninety-five Theses were posted by Martin Luther in 1517 to its northern doors. On-site, there is a memorial and a copy of those theses sculpted on a bronze door which was where they were originally nailed. The church though was seriously damaged by fire in 1760 during a bombardment by the French during the Seven Years' War and had to be then rebuilt. The wooden doors, burnt in 1760, were replaced in 1858 by bronze doors, bearing the Latin text of the theses and now serving as a kind of monument for protestant believers. Inside the church are the tombs of famous Reformation figures such as Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, Johannes Bugenhagen, Paul Eber, and of the electors Frederick the Wise and John the Constant as well as the painter Lucas Cranach the Younger. The visit to the church was only allowed through the visit to the museum set in the former building of the castle as so we decided to skip it and continue on with our walk. Just west of the city center we then reached a cookie factory called Wikana, which we had read contained a small store where they sold all the cookies they produce. We bought several to take home with us and then decided to walk back towards the city center. We had one last stroll through the picturesque historic center and then decided it was time to head back to the train station from where we took the next train to Berlin.