Eisenach

This weekend was full of birthday celebrations, both of the traditional and not so traditional type. A fellow exchange student from Brazil turned 20, and with the help of friends of his coming up from Munich, much of the weekend has been spent in a spirit of celebration. Friday, however, was a different birthday celebration as I traveled to Eisenach, the birthplace of Luther and Bach and home to Wartburg, the castle which housed Luther as he went into hiding after he was excommunicated from the Catholic church. It was also home to Elisabeth of Hungary. It is her birthday that was being celebrated. She turns 800 this year and to celebrate the Evangelical Church in Thüringen has commissioned an exhibition honoring her life. A church history professor in the Theological faculty organized the trip, inviting us students to travel with him to visit the exhibition. Of course, I wouldn't pass up such an opportunity!

Wartburg sits impressively up on top the hill overlooking Eisenach.

This is the oldest part of the castle, being built in Romanesque architecture. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but it was truly impressive with mosaics covering walls and ceilings, beautiful woodwork, elaborate banquet halls and narrow passage ways.

The purpose of the trip was to see the Elisabeth exhibit, a woman who before this weekend I knew nothing about and as I learned her history, I could do nothing less than admire her strength. She was married into the royal family in Thüringen at the age of 13 and having been influenced by the Franciscan monks spent her life and her money crossing the class divide, building hospitals and helping to care and aid the poor and sick. She was the first woman to make caring for the poor a profession and is often symbolized with roses as legend has it she was carrying bread from the Wartburg kitchen under her cloak to feed the poor. When on the way she was stopped by her husband and asked what it was she was carrying under her cloak. As she revealed her contents, the bread had been transformed into a bundle of roses and she was able to continue on her way to care for those in need.

Enjoying the snow covered garden

The view on the way out of the castle. The Luther room, where he translated the New Testament into German during his 10 months of hiding is up to the left.

The inside of the church where Luther sang in the choir as a small boy and where four generations of the Bach family played the organ. On the same day of our travel to Eisenach the Deutsches Bahn went on strike making it a bit more difficult to travel easily. This meant that we had to travel only on the private trains and we had an hours wait for our connecting train in small town Bebra. Unfortunately time didn't allow for a visit to the Luther house where he grew up or the Bach house. I guess that means another trip will have to be made. The beginnings of the Christmas market were seen in the square adding encouragement to make the return trip soon.