"My dear old Weissenfels"

"Here the valley is so beautiful ... The first hills of Thuringia are rising to be mountains. Meadows and fields are of a lush green. The Saale river is winding with a rapid current, a clear, healthy breeze is wafting across the area." - Louise von Francois described the charms of this region.

"My dear old Weissenfels, where I went to the first bourgeois school and where my childhood paradise is still embodied, would have liked to be visited by me, because countless times I passed by rail, but I was always afraid that the progress, of which I noticed numerous signs looking out the window, would disturb my illusion, because I heard, much that once belonged to my childhood is no longer there..."

Hedwig Courths- Mahler wrote this sentence to a friend in Weissenfels in 1938. Cities change their faces, sometimes to their advantage, sometimes to their disadvantage. Fortunately, plenty has been preserved in this more than 800-year-old town that is well-worth a visit.

The buildings around the market square illustrate their age quite beautifully. The post-gothic church St. Marien differs from the typical sacral gothic of Central Europe due to its lavishly decorated pews (about 1430). The name of the architect of the nave has been conveyed in an inscription - Johann Reinhard of Meissen, an important master of his time.

After the introduction of the reformation in 1539, the gothic interior of the church was removed gradually and changed into baroque. The "newest" item is the organ of Friedrich Ladegast, probably the most important German organ builder of the 19th century, who installed the organ in 1864. In 1718, the church tower burnt down and underwent a baroque reconstruction.

On the South side of the market square, there is a beautifully preserved bourgeois building of the Renaissance Louis von Francios (1817-1893) wrote in her most famous novel "Die letzte Reckenburgerin" that this building with its high roof reminds her of a pugdog with a pointed cap. Louise lived in the building for many years, and one admirer of hers had a pugdog with a pointed cap carved in stone in memory of her.

The Renaissance City Hall which partially burnt in a city fire, was rebuilt using the remains of the building by Christoph Schuetze in 1720. Today, it is an outstanding example of baroque architecture from Weissenfels' glorious time as "City of Residence" of the Saxonian collateral line Saxonia-Weissenfels (1680-1746). The City Hall tower contains not only a regular clock, but a lunar clock as well.Between the City Hall and the church, past the baroque bourgeois residences, one reaches the old city school with the most beautiful Renaissance portal in Weissenfels.

Castle of Neu-Augustusburg

From here, one of numerous small alleys of the old town lead to Klosterstraße. Before we reach the monastery, let us mention two other buildings in this street. Adolf Müllner (1774-1829), dramatist and feared theatre critic, lived in number thirteen. Only a few steps further there is the home of Novalis, a contemporary of Müllner's and the most important representative of the German Early Romantic period. Friedrich von Hardenberg, known as Novalis (1772-1801) lived and died here. A high wall hides the garden with its renovated pavilion which is a pleasant place of rest from the noise of the city.

From here one can almost see the city park, which used to be a cemetery. On the left hand side of the city park, one can find both Novalis' and Müllner's graves and tombstones which are well preserved.

"I so often played on Novalis' tomb of stone and let my fantasies wander into the land of dreams" This, too, is a sentence in the letter written by Hedwig Courths- Mahler (mentioned above).

Since 1303, the former monastery St. Claren has been situated within the city walls. From 1540 on it served worldly purposes, from 1664 on as a "Gymnasium illustre Augusteum", an "Academy of knights" of the Dukedom Saxony-Weissenfels. Two of the professors of this institution were Christian Weise and Johannes Riemer. In the 19th century, the building was used for teachers' seminars, and pedagogues like Harnisch, Hentschel, or Hill made Weissenfels famous around the world as the headquarter of schoolmasters.

On the way to Neu-Augustusburg Castle there are two other important buildings. The Heinrich-Schütz-House in Nikolai Street is the only one in the world that this extraordinary composer lived in and that is preserved in its original form. Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) spent his childhood in Weissenfels and his old age in this house - twenty. one years altogether. Many of his late compositions were written here. Today, it is a museum and well worth a visit.

Second to the last stop on our stroll through the city is the building "Geleitshaus" in Grosse Burgstrasse, probably the city's most prestigious building of the Renaissance. Today it is the museum "Gustav Adolf" and presents an exhibition of the Thirty Years' War. The Swedish King Gustav II Adolf died in the Battle of Lützen in 1632, and in this house, the autopsy was performed on his body before it was embalmed and transferred to Sweden. A diorama of about ten thousand tin figurines provides an idea of the dimensions of the largest and bloodiest battle of the Thirty Years' War. Next to the "Geleitshaus", a flight of stairs leads directly to the castle. Johann Moritz Richter, father and son, built Neu- Augustusburg 1660-1694 as a residence for the dukes of Saxony-Weissenfels in place of the castle that was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War.

Castle chapel

The castle reveals an important milestone of the early baroque architecture of castles in Central Germany. From 1820 on, the castle was used as Prussian army barracks, and the interior and rooms were completely changed. However, the church of the castle has been preserved and is the most beautiful early baroque church in Saxony-Anhalt. Stucco decorations of the Italians Quadro and Caroveri, Grisaille frescos of Johann Oswald Harms, the altar of Johann Heinrich Boehme the Elder, and the organ of Christian Foerner form the work of art in its entirety.

The museum next door provides information on the structure and importance of the former dukedom which is closely linked to names such as Johann Beer, Johann Philipp Krieger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Haendel, Johann Friedrich Fasch, Georg Philipp Telemann, or the "Neuberin".
Furthermore, an extensive exhibition of shoes shows how comfortable and how more or less elegant men, women, and children walked through the centuries.

View to "Burgwerben", vineyards in Weissenfels

Finally, one can recommend the view from the castle tower. On a clear day one can see all the way to Freyburg or Leipzig and, naturally, one can enjoy the city on the Saale river, WeissenfeIs.

Directions: Located at the Saale river, at the southern border of the Leipzig lowlands.

By car: motorway A9 (Berlin- Munich) between Schkeuditzer Kreuz and Hermsdorfer Kreuz, exit "Weissenfels"; motorway A38 (Goettingen-Leipzig), exit "Weissenfels" or Federal road B87 from Leipzig or Naumburg; or B91 from Merseburg/Halle or Zeitz;

Or by train to station "Weissenfels", from Leipzig/Halle or Zeitz; or Naumburg/Weimar/Erfurt);

Via aircraft: the closest larger airport is Leipzig/Halle (about 40 km north or 30 minutes via car)