Romanesque Road: 1,000 Kilometers through Saxony-Anhalt

25 years ago, the Romanesque Road was inaugurated in Saxony-Anhalt. Nowhere else in the East were there more Romanesque structures in good condition. Today, there are 88 sites along a 1,000-kilometer loop.

On May 7, 1993, the Romanesque Road was opened. After Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt is the state with the most well-preserved Romanesque buildings. Today, there are 88 sites in 73 locations on both a north and south route - forming a 1,000-kilometer-long loop. The architecture dates from approximately 950 to 1250. Around 1.5 million visitors use the route annually - and also the travel reporter took to the tour, passing by castles, monasteries, and churches.

'Saxony-Anhalt has real pearls of Romanesque art,' gushes city guide Willi Willmann. 'And the fact that so many still exist is thanks to the people who have cherished and preserved them.'

For those in search of history, Magdeburg makes an ideal starting point. 'Fortification was an important aspect of Romanesque architecture - thick walls, small windows,' explains Willmann. Most associate Romanesque with church building - but castles, monasteries, and secular buildings were also part of it.

In the 10th century, Magdeburg was the ultimate European center alongside Rome and Constantinople. Emperor Otto gave his wife Editha the present capital city of Saxony-Anhalt as a morning gift for their wedding. The formerly Ottonian church was rebuilt, and now the first Gothic cathedral on German soil - St. Mauritius and Katharina - lies on the Romanesque Road.

It wasn't until 2010 that the lead sarcophagus with the remains of Editha, the 'Lady Di of the Middle Ages,' was discovered there beside the emperor's grave. Otto, in whose era marriages were more often alliances of convenience, was believed to be eternally in love with his wife, who died young. The Ottonian Museum is taking shape and is expected to open on November 3.

A modern multimedia exhibition is being built in the former state bank. A 3-D visualization is meant to take visitors directly to the former cathedral construction site. Excavation findings will also be displayed. Magdeburg aims to become the European Capital of Culture in 2025.

A stone's throw from the cathedral lies the Monastery of Our Lady, the oldest preserved building in the city. Today, the Romanesque monastery complex, which was built in the 11th and 12th centuries, is a museum for modern art and sculptures.

Halberstadt in the Harz district was Magdeburg's medieval rival. In the 10th century, the first Ottonian cathedral was built there. But when Otto I made his favorite residence Magdeburg an archbishopric, he thereby took power and land from the Bishop of Halberstadt. In 1236, construction of a Gothic cathedral began in Halberstadt, modeled on French cathedrals, and it took 250 years to complete.

Among modern legends is that George Clooney, while looking for a film location for 'Monuments Men' at the cathedral in May 2013, supposedly said in awe: 'It's perfect.'

It is documented that the Reformation reached Halberstadt very late (in 1591) and from then on, clergy of both confessions used the cathedral in remarkable harmony. This is an important reason why the cathedral treasure could be preserved and has been accessible to the public in a permanent exhibition for ten years now.

The second reason is related to its relocation during World War II. At that time, it was stored in a cave near Quedlinburg. An American officer discovered the hiding place and stole parts of the cathedral treasure from Quedlinburg, sending them home by field post.

Halberstadt, however, sent two clergymen with a hearse to Quedlinburg and managed to relocate its treasure just in time. 'It is a miracle,' says Claudia Wyludda, spokesperson for the cathedral museum.

The cathedral treasure consists of over 1,000 items, acquired since the 9th century, received as precious gifts, or brought back from looting. A third of it is on display, including numerous reliquary arms from the 13th century with splinters from the Holy Cross, goldsmith works, ivory carvings, monumental Romanesque tapestries, and valuable vestments.

In the UNESCO World Heritage city of Quedlinburg, the collegiate church towers over everything. In 936, the first German king Heinrich I was buried here. After his death, his widow Mathilde founded a women's convent at his grave, subordinated only to the emperor and pope, which lasted until 1803.

For nearly 900 years, Quedlinburg was ruled by women and saw many regal assemblies where German and European history was made. Mathilde's granddaughter of the same name even temporarily held a regency - 1,000 years before Angela Merkel's chancellorship.

The current collegiate church was completed in 1129 as the fourth church built on the same site. Heinrich I's remains have disappeared, but the graves of the two Mathildes are fully preserved. During the Third Reich, SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, who saw himself grandiosely in the tradition of King Heinrich, expelled the clergy and made the church a consecration site for the Waffen-SS.

He even had walls broken through to create a secret staircase just for himself. Although the Quedlinburg cathedral treasure cannot compare to Halberstadt's, it still holds rare treasures. Ten of the twelve once-stolen artifacts have now returned from the USA.

Across from the Schlossberg is the Münzenberg. In 986, the first abbess Mathilde and Empress Theophanu founded a Benedictine convent here, but it barely survived the turmoil of the Peasants' War.

At the end of the 16th century, traveling people settled on the ruins - musicians, knife-sharpeners, tinkerers, living in 65 small half-timbered houses. Some houses incorporated parts of the St. Mary's monastery church, including the apse, transept, nave, and westwork.

After 1990, the area was completely renovated and became one of the most popular residential neighborhoods in Quedlinburg. Then Lemgo's doctor and professor Siegfried Behrens came, bought a house on the hill, and discovered parts of the ruins. He purchased further houses, cellars, and properties and finally placed everything into a foundation.

The adventure led to a museum under the houses, where large parts of the early Romanesque church can be seen again. There are also graves of a Benedictine and a warrior killed by a spear. Some of the vaults are adjacent to still-used cellars. 'Concerts only don't happen here because it flushes when the toilet is used above,' says club chairman Frank Sacher.

Gernrode, now part of Quedlinburg, also boasts a remarkable sight with the 959-founded St. Cyriakus collegiate church, one of the oldest sacred buildings in Germany.

Count Gero's sons died young, so he had it converted into a women's convent. By appointment, church guide Cornelia Weiß today shows up to 15 guests a day the oldest replica of the Holy Sepulchre from the 11th century.

It resembles the original in Jerusalem most closely from its time of origin. It is surrounded by stucco figures made of local sandstone that tell the Gospel through visual comparisons.

In the tomb itself, there are three women hastening to the grave and a large figure that could represent Christ as the first bishop of the world or the Evangelist Mark. In 2010, skeletal remains of a woman, aged 25 to 40 years, with a pilgrim's cross were discovered in the church.

Possibly, she had seen the original burial chamber in Jerusalem. 'It's known that Gero's sister was in Jerusalem at that time and died there,' says Weiß. Might the mysterious unknown come from her entourage? It is not the last unsolved mystery on the Romanesque Road.

Travel reporter