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Central Germany

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Weimar is a historical city in the federal state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately 80 kms southwest of Leipzig, 170 kms north of Nuremberg and 170 kms west of Dresden. Weimar culture was the flourishing of the arts (Bauhaus) and sciences that happened in Germany during the Weimar Republic. The old part of a city is designated as UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Overview

Crucial to its culture, science, industry and history, Mitteldeutschland is Germany’s beating heart. It is studded with cities whose historical importance matches their modern vitality (Weimar, Erfurt and Kassel are just the first names on this list); ridged by low, forested mountains that loom large in German mythology; and edified by museums, cathedrals and castles without number, so it’s puzzling that such a rich destination is routinely overlooked by international visitors.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • A vertical shot of the Hercules monument in Wilhelmshoehe Castle Park in Kassel, Germany.

    Herkules

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Erected between 1707 and 1717 by Landgrave Karl and declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 2013, the 8.25m-high copper Herkules statue stands atop a…

  • The historical townhall and market place of Marburg, Germany.

    Altstadt

    Fairy-Tale Road

    One of the joys of Marburg is simply strolling around its steeply winding medieval core. Its focal point is the Marktplatz; on the southern side is the…

  • Wörlitz Park, Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

    Wörlitz Park & Schloss Wörlitz

    Central Germany

    With peacocks feeding on the lawn before a neo-Gothic house, a tree-lined stream flowing towards a Grecian-style temple and a gap in a hedge framing a…

  • The Bauhaus master house building designed by architect Walter Gropius in 1925, Dessau, Germany.

    Meisterhäuser

    Central Germany

    You’ll find the four surviving Meisterhäuser – Gropiushaus, Haus Feininger, Haus Muche/Schlemmer and Haus Kandinsky/Klee – on leafy Ebertallee, a 15…

  • Old tree and roots at Edersee lake, at Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, Waldeck-Frankenburg, Hessen, Germany.

    Nationalpark Kellerwald-Edersee

    Fairy-Tale Road

    Hesse's first national park encompasses the Kellerwald, one of the largest extant red-beech forests in Central Europe and a rare survivor of the last Ice…

  • Lutherhaus in Wittenberg, Germany.

    Lutherhaus

    Central Germany

    Even those with no previous interest in the Reformation will likely be fascinated by the state-of-the-art exhibits in the Lutherhaus, the former monastery…

  • St. Michael's church in Fulda, Germany.

    Michaelskirche

    Fairy-Tale Road

    A living kernel of Fulda's long history, this early-9th-century church was once the cemetery chapel for the Benedictine monastery around which the town…

  • Neuenburg Castle, Freyburg, Germany.

    Schloss Neuenburg

    Central Germany

    This large medieval castle on the hill above town is one of Freyburg’s highlights. It houses an excellent museum that illuminates various aspects of…

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