INFOBOX
- Best for: (Prospective) princesses, connoisseurs of stylistically multifaceted palaces & gardens
- Nearest major city: Potsdam, Berlin
- Nearest airport: Berlin
- Website: www.potsdam-tourism.com/en
Wartburg Castle
It might be small in stature, but the town of Eisenach is up there with the big hitters of German culture thanks mainly to Wartburg Castle, a World Heritage Site frequented in turn by a star cast including Goethe, Wagner and Martin Luther.
Perched on a rocky plateau 400m above Eisenach, Wartburg Castle is so well protected that in all its nine hundred years it has been besieged just once, and never captured. Legend has it that it was founded in 1067 by Ludwig der Springer. By the 19th century the castle had fallen into decay, and an ambitious restoration programme spearheaded by Goethe was carried out.
The Wartburg’s reputation as the most quintessentially German of all German castles, and all the legends that surround it, come courtesy of the Romantic artists of the early 19th century and their reverence for all things medieval. The theme of the legendary Sängerkrieg (War of the Troubadours), which took place at the Wartburg, reappears in several Romantic works, including Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser (1845).
Wartburg has its own saint, Elisabeth (1207–31), canonized in 1235. She was the Hungarian king’s daughter and wife of Landgrave Ludwig IV. Deeply pious, Elisabeth rejected courtly life to care for the poor and sick. The legend of the Miracle of the Roses tells of how she hid bread and meat under her coat to distribute among the poor; when she was stopped and searched by her husband’s men, the food turned to roses.
But the castle’s most famous connection is that of Martin Luther. He was excommunicated by the Pope in 1521 and brought in secret to the Wartburg, where he began his German translation of the original Greek New Testament.
The magnificent banqueting hall, supported by 12th-century columns, is adorned with hanging banners of the nationalist Protestant German students who took part in the renowned Wartburgfest in 1817 celebrating the Luther tercentenary.
If you decide to prolong your visit with an overnight stay, you will thankfully be better lodged than Martin Luther in his Spartan cell. Also worth staying around for is the MDR Summer of Music festival, heralding two months of special concerts in astounding surroundings.