Martin Luther sites
In 2017 it has been 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Although there is no historical proof of this happening, it was an event that changed the world by starting the Reformation. Here are listed the most significant sites of Luther's life.
1. St. Mary's Church
St. Mary"s Church, the parish church in which Luther often preached, was built in the 13th century, but has been much altered since Luther"s time. The reformers Martin Luther and Johannes Bugenhagen preached there and the building also saw the first celebration of the mass in German rather than Latin and the first ever distribution of the bread and wine to the congregation - it is thus considered the mother church of the Protestant Reformation.
The first mention of the church dates to 1187. Originally a wooden church, in 1280 the present chancel and the chancel"s south ais ...
2. Wartburg Castle
Wartburg castle, overlooking the town of Eisenach, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament of the Bible into German and the site of the Wartburg festival of 1817. It was an important inspiration for Ludwig II when he decided to build Neuschwanstein Castle. Wartburg is the most-visited tourist attraction in Thuringia after Weimar. Although the castle today still contains substantial original structures from the 12th through 15th centuries, much of the interior dates back only to the 19th-century per ...
3. Veste Coburg
The Veste Coburg is one of Germany"s largest castles. The hill on which the fortress stands was inhabited from the Neolithic to the early Middle Ages according to the results of excavations. The first documentary mention of Coburg occurs in 1056, in a gift by Richeza of Lotharingia. Richeza gave her properties to Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne, to allow the creation of Saalfeld Abbey in 1071. In 1075, a chapel dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul is mentioned on the fortified Coberg. This document also refers to a Vogt named Gerhart, implying that the local possessions of the Saalfeld ...
4. Hartenfels Castle
Photo from Flickr, copyright Chris Roth 1
The early Renaissance Hartenfels castle dominates the town of Torgau. It is the residence of the Saxon electors and the political and administrative centre. The castle chapel was designed especially for Protestant worship services and was consecrated by Martin Luther himself.
History
The fortification already stood on the banks of the Elbe during the Slavic period. It was developed into a castle in the mid-10th century. In the late 15th century Hartenfels evolved, step by step, into an early modern castle.
In 1485, Torgau fell to the Ernestine Electorate of Saxony, the focus of whose reign ...
5. Martin Luther's Death House
Photo from Flickr, copyright stadt + land
Martin Luther"s Death House (Martin Luthers Sterbehaus) is the historic building in Eisleben, where it was incorrectly thought that Martin Luther died on 18 February 1546. Since then it has become a museum and a UNESCO world heritage site. The city of Eisleben, located in Saxony-Anhalt, is also where Martin Luther was born and baptised; his birth house is also a UNESCO world heritage site and museum.
It is now known that in fact Luther died in a house at Am Markt 56, which is currently occupied by the Hotel Graf Mansfeld.
A new exhibition, 'Luthers letzter Weg' (Luther& ...
6. Melanchthonhaus
Photo from Flickr, copyright Milos Solc Photography
The Melanchthonhaus is a writer"s house museum in the German town of Lutherstadt Wittenberg. It is a Renaissance building with late Gothic arched windows and the broad-tiered gables. It includes the study of the Protestant Reformer Philipp Melanchthon, who lived there with his family.
In 1954 the house became a museum on Melanchthon"s life and work displaying paintings, prints and manuscripts by him and his contemporaries. It became part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Luther Sites in Central Germany' in 1996.
7. Schlosskirche
Photo from Flickr, copyright riesebusch
All Saints' Church, commonly referred to as Schlosskirche (Castle Church) is the site where the Ninety-five Theses were likely posted by Martin Luther in 1517, the act that has been called the start of the Protestant Reformation. From 1883 onwards, the church was restored as a memorial site.
A first chapel dedicated All Saints was erected at the new residence of the Ascanian duke Rudolf I of Saxe-Wittenberg from about 1340. Frederick III the Wise, elector of Saxony from 1486, rebuilt the former Ascanian fortress and a new All Saints' Church was designed by the architect Con ...
8. Lutherhaus
The Lutherhaus is a writer"s house museum in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Originally built 1504 as part of the University of Wittenberg, the building was the home of Martin Luther for most of his adult life and a significant location in the history of the Protestant Reformation. Luther was living here when he wrote his 95 Theses.
The Augusteum is an expansion to the original building that was constructed after Luther"s death to house a Protestant seminary and library which still exist today. Since 1996, both buildings have been recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
His ...
9. St. Augustine's Monastery
Photo from Flickr, copyright Reiseland Thüringen
The church and monastery of the Augustinian hermits in Erfurt was built around 1300. Martin Luther, the famous Augustinian monk, was admitted to the monastery on 17 July 1505. The Augustinian Monastery pays tribute to Martin Luther with a new exhibition. The Lutherzelle (Luther"s cell) can be visited as part of the exhibition. Since 1988 the monastery has been used as an ecumenical conference centre and a memorial to Luther.
10. Martin Luther's Birth House
Photo from Flickr, copyright stadt + land
Martin Luther"s Birth House (Martin Luthers Geburtshaus) is a museum in Eisleben, Germany. The actual house in which Luther was born no longer exists, it having been burnt completely to the ground in 1689.
The German religious reformer Martin Luther was born there in 1483. Opened to the public in 1693, it is a World Heritage Site. In 2005-2007 an expansion was added for visitors; the ensemble has since received five architectural awards.