Tom`s travels: Kamenz, Bautzen, & Löbau (25/06/2023)

On a partly cloudy late June weekend day, I decided to head south of Berlin and visit a few cities in Saxony. My first stop was the city of Kamenz, which I reached after switching trains a few times. Once there, I got off the train and headed into the city center on foot. After a short walk, I reached the main square, a picturesque spot with a 16th-century fountain and the 19th-century Italian-style Neo-Renaissance town hall. Continuing onwards I walked through some minor streets to reach the church of St Mary, originally built in the 13th century but rebuilt in its current late gothic style during the 15th century on the highest point in town. It is the only church built from granite rocks north of the Alps and unfortunately, as I approached it, I found it closed. That was quite annoying as on a weekend June day one would expect such a monument to be open. In fact, there was even a small group of older Germans with a guide touring the exterior but they too could not enter it. I walked around the building, where the cemetery was laid out, and where the Catechism Church, a 14th-century small gothic church was set on top of the town walls that encircle the city. This building was once used for religious services held in the Sorbian language and was now, like the main church, closed. Near the church, at a lower level, I then passed the Red Tower, a 14th-century tower once part of a city gate that did not survive, and also part of the city fortifications that enclosed the old town. In front of it, a sign with huge letters set on the grass spelled out the name of Kamenz, which I found a bit weird and out of place. Nonetheless, I continued on my walk and passed another surviving part of the city walls, the low round tower known as Pichschuppen. From the tower, I walked back through the city center and reached the St Anne Abbey Church, a 16th-century Gothic church with inside a museum featuring a collection of five late Gothic carved wooden altarpieces. After visiting the museum it was time to head to the train station from where I was able to take a ride to the next town Bautzen. Like Kamenz before and the town of Löbau which I would visit later, Bautzen was once a predominantly Sorbian town and still maintains bilingual street signs as well as being the seat of several Sorbian institutions such as a radio, school, institute, and cultural foundation. As I reached it I headed out of the station and towards the city center and gladly noticed the sun had come out. As I approached the old town, I walked on top of the Friedensbrücke where I had a picturesque view of the historical center with its many towers and town walls on a hilly cliff overlooking the Spree river creating an amazing sight. From the viewpoint, I then walked down a set of stairs to reach the river and here walked along the water keeping the cliff with the high towers and walls to the right. I then crossed a small bridge over the Spree River and walked past some houses to reach a little forested hill to the northwest of the center, the Protschenberg. Once on top I then had another great view of the old town. I walked back down the hill on the other side reaching once again the river. After having crossed it I took a staircase that led me up the hill to where the old town is set. Here I first visited the ruins of the church of St. Nicholas, a 15th-century building damaged during the siege of 1620 by John George I, Elector of Saxony, and the siege of 1634 by the Swedes and left to ruins ever since. It was nice to walk around the grounds which now hold a cemetery and through the partly surviving church's structure. Next door I then entered the old town proper through the St Nicholas' gate, part of the medieval fortifications encircling the city. Once inside I walked through the picturesque streets of the old town characterized by beautiful and elegant baroque and neoclassical buildings. On the western edge of town I reached the Ortenburg, a castle palace originally dating as a 7th-century fort enlarged by Henry I in the 10th century. In the 15th century, the castle was rebuilt in the late Gothic style by Matthias Corvin, King of Hungary, following two devastating fires. In 1698, at the height of the Baroque period, three Renaissance gables were added to the castle giving its current aspect. As I approached it I noticed it was closed as they were setting up a stage for a festival and only workers and people heading to the museum inside were allowed. I turned around and continued through the old town passing by another church ruin, that of the Mönchskirche, a a former monastery church of the Franciscan. Moving on I then reached the Cathedral, built during the 13th century and then rebuilt in its current gothic form during the 15th century. Interestingly it is Eastern Germany's only historic interdenominational church edifice, as it is shared among the Catholics and Lutherans. The interior was quite large and impressive with the baroque 18th-century main altar with a painting by the Venetian Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, the beautiful oak choir stalls from 1723, and a wooden carved princely lodge above the main entrance door. Once outside the church, I continued on through the rest of town passing by three medieval towers part of the city's fortifications, the Schülerturm rebuilt in the 15th century, the Wendischer Turm also from the 15th century, and the Reichenturm rebuilt in its current baroque form in the 18th century. From the latter I followed the main street which eventually took me to the Haupmarkt, the main square, surrounded by nice buildings including the Baroque town hall. As I walked onwards I reached the western end of town where the walls on the cliff close off the city towards the river. Here were a series of parts of the old fortifications such as the Mühltor, the city gate leading to the river, and Alte Wasserkunst in the form of a tower, which once served as the city's water supply. Next to them was the church of St Michael, built in a Gothic style in the 15th century. It was unfortunately close so I moved onwards, passing then one last tower, the Lauenturm, also from the 15th century with a baroque spire, probably the largest and tallest tower of the fortifications in town with a height of 53m as the Cathedral tower reaches a height of nearly 84m. It was then time to head to the train station and catch the next ride into the last town of the day, Löbau. Once there I left the station behind me and quickly headed towards the small city center, a few minutes away on foot. I passed by the church of St. Nicholas, dating to the 13th century but highly refurbished during the 19th and 20th centuries with the addition of Neo-gothic features such as the bell tower. Moving on I reached the Altmarkt, the old town square, with the colorful and picturesque baroque town hall from the early 19th century with the surviving 15th-century tower showcasing an astronomical clock. At that point, I then made a small walk around the town passing along the minor streets and then I headed back to the train station. On my way towards Berlin, as I had a longer layover in the city of Görlitz, which I had previously visited, I decided to have a quick walk and visit its beautiful historical center once again. I passed its main sights and even managed to step foot on the other side of the bridge in Polish territory before heading back to the train station and eventually catching my train to Berlin.