Die Wartburg, seit 1999 Welterbe der UNESCO, ist die wichtigste Burg Deutschlands – und ein Ort mit einer besonderen Ausstrahlung und Würde. Fünf Gründe, warum man mindestens einmal im Leben dort gewesen sein muss.
Table of contents
1. ... because it is architecturally unique
2. ... because it is located exactly in the middle of Germany
3. ... because it is connected with German history like hardly any other castle
4. ... because it has an artistic concert hall
5. ... because Luther translated a part of the Bible here
Der dreigeschossige Palas, den Ludwig II. ab etwa 1157 erbauen ließ, gilt als der am besten erhaltene spätromanische Profanbau nördlich der Alpen. Der Mann war mit der Schwester von Friedrich Barbarossa verheiratet und diese Verbindung zum Kaiserhaus war ihm wohl etwas zu Kopf gestiegen. Seine Wartburg musste wahre Größe haben. 40.000 Tonnen hellen, für deutsche Wetterverhältnisse viel zu empfindlichen Räthsandstein verbaute man – heute ist alles versiegelt. Viele Kapitelle ziert der Adler, das kaiserliche Symboltier. Das war provokant. Die Wartburg bietet aber auch Burgenromantik aus dem 19. Jahrhundert, denn damals wurde sie im historisierenden Stil restauriert.
Whether it really lies there depends - we admit it - on the calculation method, but it is always about right. As a proxy for the Landstreit estate ten kilometers away, Wartburg Castle has been declared the center of Germany. Be that as it may. The Wartburg is enthroned beautifully and visible from afar not far from the former inner-German border at the northwestern end of the Thuringian Forest, high above the city Eisenach. Thus it became a symbol of unity in 1989. It is worthwhile to walk up to the castle on one of the many hiking trails - and enjoy completely new perspectives on the famous building. Also a section of the Thuringian Luther Way leads up to the Wartburg Castle.
Again and again important things happened at Wartburg Castle, interesting people came here: Not only Martin Luther hid there, but also the Hungarian princess Elisabeth, who was married off to Thuringia at the age of 14, spent some time here 300 years earlier at the side of Louis IV, before he died during a crusade and she became Saint Elisabeth as a benefactress of the poor. She died at the age of 24 in Marburg. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was interested in the castle and wanted to establish an art museum. And in October 1817, the German fraternity members met here for their Wartburg meeting.
The banqueting hall upstairs on the second floor of the Romanesque Palas became one of the most beautiful concert halls in Thuringia in the 19th century, equipped with excellent acoustics. The richly decorated hall, which, by the way, the Bavarian King Ludwig II had copied at Neuschwanstein Castle, received a coffered ceiling, which we owe not least to the advice of Franz Liszt. Today, music often plays at Wartburg Castle, including Richard Wagner's opera "Tannhäuser" - an impressive experience at the original venue, of course.
When Martin Luther began his protective custody on May 5, 1521, it was lonely and inhospitable at Wartburg Castle. Apart from a guard commander, there was often no one there. In the Luther Room at the front of the castle bailiwick, the reformer, disguised as Junker Jörg, spent eleven weeks translating the New Testament from Greek and Latin into German, which did not yet exist. The room is therefore also something like the birthplace of the German written language. The oak door through which one enters the castle is the same one through which Luther once passed, new research has shown. So it's worth taking the first step quite consciously.
Cover picture: The Wartburg at the blue hour - a German piece of castle romance
