- View from the Burschaft monument by Andre Nestler
Eisenach and the Wartburg Fortress have a claim to fame through numerous renowned people and historic events. The Wartburg Fortress, in particular, which is the most German of all fortresses and was recently made a UNESCO World Heritage Site, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year with its centuries of gripping history.
Landgravine Elisabeth of Thuringia, who was canonised after her death, is steeped in saga and legend. And it was here that Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German, thus smoothing the path to a standard written German. The Wartburg Festival of the German student fraternities was held here in October 1817. Martin Luther was said to have lived in the Luther House – one of the town’s oldest half-timbered houses – for three years as a student of Latin. In a contemporary multimedia exhibition, the museum shows the Reformer’s life and career. The composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach and so another major museum in the Bach House is devoted to him. Along with an exhibition on the life and work of the Bach family in Thuringia, the fine town house contains a collection of historic musical instruments. Visitors can enjoy music presentations which includes music played on original instruments from Bach`s time.
Eisenach is significant in literary terms too.
Goethe stayed here several times and the low-German author Fritz Reuter spent the end of his life here. In his home, a museum commemorates not only the poet but also houses the largest Richard-Wagner Collection after Bayreuth. The Automobile Construction Museum is devoted to the more than hundred-year tradition of automobile construction in Eisenach. In the town’s beautiful environs, nature lovers can enjoy numerous walks, including the famous Rennsteig, or can cycle and canoe.
- Wartburg Castle - UNESCO World Heritage
It towers over Thuringian Eisenach almost majestically – Wartburg Fortress. With its almost thousand years of history, it is one of the best-known and most popular fortresses in Germany and has been a UNESCO World
Heritage Site since 1999. The Palas (Great Hall) dating from the 12th century still bears witness today to the former glory of the Landgrave’s residence, where all the fine arts were cultivated, where songs of Walther von
der Vogelweide were sung and poems of Wolfram von Eschenbach written. The fabled Battle of the Bards tells the tale and was made world-famous in Richard Wagner’s opera „Tannhäuser“. But Wartburg Fortress was also the place were Saint Elisabeth, who is still revered today, lived and worked and it was here that Martin Luther was exiled and translated the New Testament. So Wartburg Fortress was the venue of all these highlights of German history – it was a strong fortification, magnificent residence and home for its dwellers from past centuries.
This fortress was never forgotten but it was not renovated and given a romantic touch until the 19th century. Its medieval fabric was restored and, at Goethe’s recommendation 200 years ago, an art collection with treasures dating from eight centuries was set up.
During a guided tour of the rooms in the Wartburg, you will meet with history, culture and art at every step and turn. But the Wartburg Fortress has not lost its friendly hospitality either – today the „Hotel auf der Wartburg“ welcomes visitors taking no more than a short break as well as guests wanting to enjoy the world of Thuringian specialities in the romantic restaurants or to
be pampered in the 35 attractive bedrooms or even wanting to marry in the unique setting of the famous fortress.
