Eisleben and Wittenburg

I'm backing up to report on territory already covered. Last week, while staying in Quedlinburg, we made trips to Eisleben (Luther's birth and death place) and Wittenburg.

Eisleben was, in many ways, disappointing. Although the museum was good (especially whoever did the Luther quotes that went with various displays), the people at the information desk and the museum front desks were really rather indifferent to anyone who showed up. Not only there, but in other places, we've had some trouble asking questions, even with people who speak English. No one seems to care very much about the wonderful museums in which they work. This isn't universally true, but it has often been thus in our experience these last two weeks.

Eisleben was really that way. The town itself seemed kind of depressed as well. Then the Luther death house was closed for renovation, as was the church there. This is another thing we're running into. They are really gearing up for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017. There is advertising for it everywhere. So lots of things are being fixed, which is nice, but it also means many things are closed. And they don't tell you about that when you get the tourist map and all.

But it was wonderful to see all this history. Here's a picture of the font where Luther was baptized, now in the Geburtshaus Museum:Wittenburg was a different experience. We enjoyed the very good English booklet walking us through the streets and to all the sites. It was very moving to go into the Castle Church where Luther had posted the 95 Theses and stand at his and Melanchthon's graves. (The Germans are very good about keeping their graves with fresh spring flowers - very simple and lovely.) I think Luther would like the fact that this church, where the first "protestant" worship service was held, is still a Roman Catholic Church. And "Ein' Feste Burg" is painted in huge letters around the tower.

It was also terrific to visit the Town Church where Luther preached more that 1000 sermons! Here's a picture of the pulpit with a painting of Luther:

The museum in Luther's house is excellent, and it has the best collection regarding Luther. It was amazing to see the library with all the books that are still extant from Luther's period and since. (You view the Library through sealed, thick windows from a hallway.) The descriptions of Luther's day-to-day life, and of his relative wealth (I really didn't know that) were very interesting. Here's a picture of Luther's house from the courtyard:
Melanchthon's House was closed for renovations(!), but it was cool to see how close together they were. In Wittenburg we really got a sense of all these people moving about their small city for work and food and conversation, and in it all shaping this great movement that changed the western world.

After leaving Luther's house (at the opposite end of the city from the Castle Church) we walked to an oak tree that marks the spot where Luther burned his excommunication order. Walking back toward the city, we stopped at the place where the Esler gate had been. Here, right by his house, Catherine and all the city came and met Luther's body when it was brought here from Eisleben. As they led it through the gates the church bells began to ring and they all rang as the entire community walked with Dr. Luther one last time to his funeral in the Castle Church where it all began. Here's a picture of that place (the gate no longer exists):
On our way back to Quedlinburg there was a glorious sunset with lots of contrails from jets flyinging in and out of Berlin, all set behind the ubiquitous windmills: