Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
When it comes to medieval castles and their importance in German history, Eisenach's Unesco-listed Wartburg dominates the landscape. This huge medieval…
Must-see attractions in Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Overlooking Schmalkalden, the late-Renaissance Schloss Wilhelmsburg was built between 1585 and 1590 by Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hessen as a hunting lodge…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
About 15km north of Jena, you'll find this hillside trilogy of magnificently restored palaces in medieval, Renaissance and rococo styles, with stunning…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
The religious reformer Martin Luther lived here as a schoolboy from 1498 to 1501, in one of Thuringia's oldest and most handsome half-timbered houses. Now…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
The world’s oldest public planetarium (1926) has a state-of-the-art dome projection system, making it a heavenly setting for cosmic laser shows paying…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Comprising two 15th-century houses knocked together in the early 17th century, this is Johann Sebastian Bach's actual birthplace, and an international…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
These former alum slate mines (operational from 1530 to 1850) were opened for tours in 1914 and rank among the world’s most colourful caverns, imbued with…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Carl Zeiss began building rudimentary microscopes in 1846 and, with Ernst Abbe’s help, developed the first scientific microscope in 1857. Together with…
Stadtmuseum & Kunstsammlung Jena
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
This handsome fachwerk townhouse at the northern end of the market square dates in part to the 13th century. It now houses the Stadtmuseum (city museum)…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Goethe is credited with recruiting Schiller to Jena University in 1789. The poet, playwright and philosopher enjoyed Jena so much that he stayed for 10…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Housed in the 1936 Automobilwerk Eisenach (AWE) factory, this museum celebrates a history of auto-manufacture dating to 1896, when the first 'Wartburg' …
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Goethe himself planted the ginkgo tree in these wonderful botanic gardens, which have grown since their inception in 1794 to a collection of more than 12…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
One of the oldest maintained town halls in Germany, Jena’s Rathaus (1377) is graced with an astronomical clock in its baroque tower. Every hour, on the…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Dominating Eisenach's central square, this is the baptismal church of St Elizabeth and Johann Sebastian Bach. It's also where Martin Luther sang as a boy…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Dominating the northern side of Markt is the baroque facade of this former ducal residence, now housing tourist and municipal offices and the Thuringian…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
This late-Gothic church, one of the largest in Thuringia, is famous for having Martin Luther’s original bronze gravestone, modelled on a portrait by Lucas…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
This museum, housed in the 1866 villa once owned by writer Fritz Reuter, hosts the most extensive collection on the composer Richard Wagner’s life and…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Built in 1972, but deceptively modern in appearance, the 128m-tall cylindrical JenTower was intended to be a Zeiss research facility, but proved…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Saalfeld's former 13th-century Franciscan monastery, dissolved in the Reformation, now houses the Stadtmuseum. Its major allure is the celestial building…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
The crypt and several other rooms of this 13th-century Dominican church house the Thuringian Museum's exquisite collection of medieval sculpture,…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Viba has been seducing sweet-toothed Germans with their range of nougats and chocolates for over a century. Here at their luridly-pink factory and visitor…
Universität Jena – Collegium Jenense
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
Jena’s university faculties are spread throughout town, but this was where the university was founded as Collegium Jenense in 1548, in a former Dominican…
Thuringian Forest & the Saale Valley
An interactive multimedia exhibition on the history, production and technology of glass, in the house where scientist and entrepreneur Otto Schott (1851…
