Wartburg Castle

Wartburg Castle sits on a 410-metre cliff above the town of Eisenach in Thuringia and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999 for its outstanding medieval architecture and its role in German cultural and religious history. The castle was founded around 1067 by Count Ludwig the Springer, and the core Romanesque palace was built in the late 12th century under Landgrave Hermann I. It is one of the best-preserved secular Romanesque buildings in northern Europe, with a two-story great hall, a palas with arcaded galleries, and a surviving chapel. The castle is most famous as the refuge of Martin Luther, who lived here for ten months in 1521 and 1522 under the alias Junker Jörg after being declared an outlaw at the Diet of Worms. In a small, simply furnished room in the Vogtei building, Luther translated the New Testament from Greek into German in just eleven weeks. Earlier in the castle's history, Saint Elisabeth of Hungary lived at the Wartburg in the early 13th century, and the court of Hermann I hosted the medieval poets Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach. In 1817, German student associations gathered at the castle for the Wartburg Festival, a demonstration for national unity. The interior tour includes the Romanesque palace, the Luther Room, the Elisabeth Gallery with 19th-century frescoes, the castle museum with art and armaments, and the restored 19th-century interiors. The castle grounds include a garden, battlements, and views over the Thuringian Forest. It is accessible by bus from Eisenach station or by a 30-minute uphill walk. The town of Eisenach also has Bach's birthplace and the Thuringian Forest hiking routes nearby.