Thuringia

Erfurt is located in the wide valley of the Gera and, with approximately 215,000 inhabitants, is the largest city and state capital of Thuringia. Landmarks include the ensemble of Mariendom and Severikirche on the Domberg, reachable via over 70 cathedral steps, and the Krämerbrücke, Europe's longest bridge continuously built with houses.Martin Luther studied here from 1501 to 1505. Since September 17, 2023, the city's Jewish-medieval heritage, with Alte Synagoge, Mikwe, and Steinernes Haus, has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Above the old town towers the baroque Petersberg Citadel.

Weimar lies on a bend of the Ilm and has around 66,000 inhabitants, yet hardly any city of its size has shaped German culture so significantly. With Wieland, Goethe, Herder, and Schiller, it became the center of Weimar Classicism; since 1998, the "Classical Weimar" ensemble has been a UNESCO World Heritage site. In 1999, Weimar was the European Capital of Culture.In 1919, the Bauhaus was founded here; in the same year, the National Assembly convened in the city that gave its name to the first German Republic. Its history also includes the Buchenwald concentration camp on the Ettersberg, where more than 56,000 people were murdered by 1945.

Wartburg Castle towers approximately 220 meters above Eisenach on the edge of the Thuringian Forest and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999. According to legend, Louis the Springer founded the castle; its Romanesque Palas, dating from around 1156 to 1162, is considered the first of its architectural type in the German-speaking world. Elizabeth of Thuringia lived and worked here from 1211 to 1227.From May 4, 1521, to March 1, 1522, Martin Luther lived in hiding at the castle as "Junker Jörg" and translated the New Testament in just eleven weeks. On October 18, 1817, students gathered for the first Wartburg Festival, a demonstration calling for a nation-state with its own constitution.

The Harz is the low mountain range in western Saxony-Anhalt. Its highest peak is the Brocken at 1141 meters, making it also the highest mountain in Northern Germany. The Harz National Park extends around the summit, accessible via the Brocken Railway of the Harz Narrow Gauge Railways, which departs from Wernigerode.Along the northern edge of the range are half-timbered towns like Wernigerode, known as the "colourful town on the Harz", and Quedlinburg, whose old town, boasting over 2100 half-timbered houses, has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1994. Further east, by the Elbe, Lutherstadt Wittenberg and its World Heritage Sites recall the beginnings of the Reformation.

Quedlinburg is located north of the Harz on the Bode and boasts over 2100 half-timbered houses from eight centuries. Since 1994, the Old Town, Castle Hill with the Collegiate Church, and the Münzenberg are listed as an ensemble on the UNESCO World Heritage list.The town was first mentioned in 922; King Heinrich I. was buried here after his death in 936. Perched on Castle Hill is the Collegiate Church of St. Servatius with its cathedral treasure; in the town, the Lyonel Feininger Gallery, opened in 1986, exhibits works by the Bauhaus artist.