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Region "Luther - Bauhaus - Gartenreich"
We would like to invite you to the region of the UNESCO world heritage sites concerning Luther, the Bauhaus and the Garden Kingdom. The scenic beauty is remarkable and at the same time is living with and from its history that has, at times been of world wide significance stretching through generations.
The towns of Lutherstadt-Wittenberg, Wörlitz and Dessau-Roßlau lie between Leipzig and Berlin and are about one hours' drive from either city on the motorway A9. The towns are connected by the river Elbe, the Elbe cycle path, the railway and by bus. A unique cultural multiplicity awaits the visitor for although the three towns are only 15 or 35 km apart their historical importance relates to quite different centuries.
Luther memorials – UNESCO world heritage since 1996
When Martin Luther published his 95 theses against the selling of indulgences in 1517 in Wittenberg thus began here the Reformation, the idea of a church in tune with its people. During the Renaissance period Wittenberg became a centre of humanistic thought in Germany. Luther found Philipp Melanchthon to be an enthusiastic like-minded contemporary. The painter Lucas Cranach the Elder lived and worked in the town for many years. Hans Lufft printed Luther's first complete bible here in 1534. Even to this day the visitor can get a breath of the Renaissance and a feel for the heritage of this era in the market square, in the streets, in the museums and in the churches of Wittenberg.
The Bauhaus and the Masters' Houses – UNESCO world heritage since1996
In 1925/26 Walter Gropius did not only build the famous Bauhaus building in Dessau, he also was responsible for the small Masters' houses estate where artists such as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Lyonel Feininger lived and worked. The Bauhaus had been founded in Weimar in 1919 but moved to Dessau for political reasons. Here in Dessau it found its new working environment as the High School for Design. Dessau became the centre of modern design. The designs from the Bauhaus were the trailblazers of
classical modernism. But the town also boasts of other historical Bauhaus architecture over and above the Bauhaus and the
Masters' houses themselves.
Middle Elbe Biosphere Reservation –UNESCO protected area since 1979The Middle Elbe Biosphere Reservation is one of the two oldest large-scale protected areas in Germany. In this region the Elbe still flows its relatively natural course and has space to flood. For this reason it is still possible to see wide meadows with century old solitary oak trees and the largest connected water meadow-forest complex in Middle Europe. Plants and animals that are virtually xtinct in other parts of Europe are still at home here today. Even the scenic attractions of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom which are embedded within the Middle Elbe Biosphere Reservation are determined by it.
Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom – Gartenreich Dessau-Wörlitz –
UNESCO world heritage since 2000
During the second half of the 18th century many vital impulses emanated from this region. Fürst Leopold III. Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau, who strived for a harmonic connection between people and their environment, laid out the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom with the help of like-minded contemporaries. During his reign Anhalt-Dessau was regarded as the centre of Enlightenment in Germany. The Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom is the birthplace in Germany of the landscaped garden, of classicism and of the New-Gothic style. Six parks and numerous architectural gems are combined so naturally in the meadows and woods along the Elbe and Mulde that the whole area takes on the character of a
never ending park.
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