Tom`s travels: Bad Belzig, Wiesenburg & Dessau (25/10/2020)

Back in Berlin, after our trip to Greece, we decided to take advantage of a sunny Sunday to explore some towns on a day trip from the capital. We headed southwest and reached the small town of Bad Belzig. Here we got off the train and headed towards the old town, just a few hundred meters from there, on foot. As soon as we left the station we came in sight of the town's main monument, the castle, jutting out from among the rooftops. We passed then by some nice timber-framed houses and a well-preserved 18th-century Saxon milepost, one of the many built all over the former lands of the Electorate of Saxony. From there, after a slight walk uphill we reached the aforementioned fortification. Right next to the imposing entrance was a small church, dedicated to St Brice, in a nice Gothic style. Turning back we then headed through the southern entrance of the castle and into the courtyard. Burg Eisenhardt, the castle's name, was built on the highest spot in town, overlooking the city center. It was mentioned already in the 10th century but its present structure dates to refurbishments that took place during the 15th century. The part which we had seen coming from the station dates in fact to that period and features thick round artillery towers. This same part can also be visited and features a nice small museum with historical pieces from the early times to the modern era; the ticket price was low and worth paying (1,5 euro). Once back in the courtyard we passed by the nice little cafè/restaurant hosted inside the eastern wing, once used as a granary and then salt storage, and then reached the central tower that once made up the main keep. This is the oldest part of the castle and dates to the 13th century. It was currently closed and can only be visited during the summer months. On the northern part of the courtyard, we then passed by what remains of the walls and towers that once made this such a formidable fortification. After completing the round of the complex we then exited from where we came and headed towards the old town, right below the hill. We reached the nice main square, the Marktplatz, with the 17th-century town hall, rebuilt in 1991 after a fire, and the old townhouses all around it. Not far from the main square, at the northern edge of the old town, we then reached and visited the church of St Mary. This romanesque single-naved hall church dates to the second half of the 13th century and features a single bell tower on the northern side which was supposed to have a twin one next to it. Only the northern one was constructed and had to be rebuilt in the baroque style during the 17th century after it had collapsed following a fire. The interior features a nice baroque organ from 1747. After the visit to the church, we then headed back through the old town in the direction of the train station where we then took a regional train to reach the nearby town of Wiesenburg. Once there, we got off the train, and as the train station was a bit far from the town center, we walked along a nice trail through the forest. The stark orange and yellow colors of the fall season were now in full show among the thick foliage surrounding us. That made the walk to reach the town's main attraction, the Schloss Wiesenburg, even more pleasant. We approached the castle from the south, walking through its nice park. The park measures about 110 hectares, with one large part of it made into an English-style garden, while a smaller part closer to the structure features a geometric baroque garden. This latter part reaches right up to the castle building with an elegant staircase that provides a view of the park and lake below. Despite the day having turned from a soft hazy autumn sun to a thick cloud cover, the view was still enjoyable and well worth it. Turning around to face the main structure we decided to see if it would be possible to visit the complex. We went around the building and reached the main gate located at the northeastern end, facing the small town center. Originally built during the 12th century the castle changed appearance as the centuries passed, first being rebuilt in the 16th century after a fire and then again in the 19th century after renovations which turned into the neo-renaissance structure that can be seen today. From 1946 it was used as a school and then sold to private investors in 1998. They had the castle buildings extensively renovated by 2003 and converted them into an exclusive residential and office complex. That meant that after walking through the neo-renaissance northeastern gate and entering the large courtyard we discovered most of the complex could not be visited, being private, but only the main tower could. We decided not to visit both for the fact that the weather was not the best to be able to see much from the top and that we didn't wish to pay an entry fee for just the tower. Instead, we stayed in the courtyard and admired the castle's architecture. This is where some of the oldest parts of the castle are still visible. In fact, the part of the building facing the courtyard dates mostly to the first refurbishment which took place during the 16th and 17th centuries. At the center of the courtyard stands also a nice well which apparently was imported from Italy and built in 1609. It was first located in the castle's gardens and later moved here in 1863. To the north is also the octagonal tower keep which is the oldest part of the castle, its base dating to the 13th century while the rest to the 16th-century reconstruction. As mentioned one can climb to its top and enjoy the view from about 48m above the ground. After the walk around the courtyard, we headed back out into town, passing through the small town center and the main church, St Mary's built in a Romanesque style with a bell tower dating to the 19th century. From there we headed back through the extensive park and on to the train station from where we took a ride in the direction of the city of Dessau-Roßlau. The city actually consists of two cities merged into one, Dessau and Roßlau, which were joined in 2007. The city features a small old town, almost completely destroyed by Allied air raids in World War II. Afterward, it was rebuilt with typical GDR concrete slab architecture, the so-called Plattenbau, and became a major industrial center of East Germany. The city is also famous for its industrial past, some of which can still be seen today, particularly for the college of architecture Bauhaus which moved here in 1925 after it had been forced to close in Weimar by the right-wing government there. Many famous artists were lecturers in Dessau in the following years, among them Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky. However, just as it happened in Weimar, Dessau also suffered the closure of the Bauhaus in 1933 when the Nazis eventually took over control. Once we reached the city and got off the train we decided to walk through the western end of Dessau where a nice park, thee Georgium, is located. This 18th-century landscape park was once, together with the nearby Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm which we had previously seen, one of the large English-style gardens that were built by the German nobility around the city. We walked by the nice white palace at the center of the park, built for Johann Georg von Anhalt-Dessau, the younger brother of Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau. It now houses the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie art gallery but was at the time under refurbishment. Walking on we reached the Mausoleum, a large structure that was built at the end of the 19th century to serve as a burial place for the Dukes of Anhalt. Nowadays it is surrounded by the city zoo and thus not accessible without a ticket. We continued on, turning back and heading westwards, passing by some other structures around the park such as the Ionic Temple and the Roman Ruins, a typical feature of romantic landscape gardens of the 19th century. At the western end of the park, we then reached an area where a series of houses known as the Masters' Houses were located. These four houses, built by Walter Gropius in 1926 and commissioned by the city of Dessau, were then rented by famous artists and architects of the Bauhaus movement. Of the four houses, one had to be fully rebuilt in 2014 after it was bombed and reconstructed differently during WWII, while the rest remained largely unchanged. Nowadays, along with some other Bauhaus buildings around the city, they are part of the Unesco World Heritage Site "Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau, and Bernau". After seeing the houses we then passed by the Bauhaus Dessau Building, one of the most emblematic of this style in the city. It was in fact, like the houses, built by Gropius and commissioned by the city in order to incorporate the Bauhaus design school and a municipal vocational school. Nowadays part of the building is used by the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences while the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation uses the rest of the building for its administration; housing a museum, a shop, and a cafeteria. After walking some more and crossing the railway line which cuts through the city we then reached what was once the old town of Dessau. As mentioned, most of the city was bombed, so only a few traces of its past are to be found here and there among the gray plattenbau buildings. We first passed by the Johannbau, the former west wing and oldest part of what once used to be a large complex known as the Residenzschloss Dessau which served as the residence of the princes and dukes of Anhalt-Dessau. Nowadays just this west wing remains and is now used as the city museum. A little further on we passed by the Marienkirche, the city's main church. Destroyed in an air raid during WWII it was later rebuilt in the old gothic style from the 16th century. Finally, not far from the church we then reached the central square, the Marktplatz surrounded by buildings that have been rebuilt or restored after the war to look like they did previously. On its southern end is the town hall, built in 1898 in a neo-renaissance style and featuring a main tower reaching the height of 73m. During the war, it suffered minor damage and was thus one of the few buildings in the city not to be torn down and fully reconstructed. It was then time to head back so we walked in the direction of the train station from where we took the next ride back to Berlin.