Wittenberg, Dessau and Worlitz

Friday 27 April

This sleepy little town in rural eastern Germany doesn't look like the centre of a revolution.  But the events that played out here in the 16th Century shook the foundations of Christendom, it was here that that Martin Luther lived and preached and the Protestant Reformation began.           
 

The old town is long and narrow, and flat, laid out along two parallel streets, in the square, or Markt, statues of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon are erected.  Pretty pastel-coloured buildings, many from the 16th and 17th centuries, line the streets.

One of the first buildings we saw as we entered the old town is the large cloister that Martin Luther used as a home. The Luther family, wife and six children, and various students and visitors lived in the central part of the building. He was given the building by one of the aristocrats supporting his movement.

The house is now a museum, open daily, and maintains Luther's living room in the state it appeared when he lived there. This is where Luther sat with his family and friends in the evenings, discussing a wide range of subjects from the sublime to the earthy (yes, earthy, not earthly!)

Martin Luther was known for his rather blunt way of speaking as well as for his eloquence. Students were allowed to be present during these evening discussions; they took notes and later published thousands of his comments in a book called "Table Talk".

In 1520, Martin Luther's supporters piled up a stack of writings of Church doctrine and set them on fire. Luther threw in the Papal Bull, the document threatening him with excommunication unless he recanted his writings.  In 1830, an oak tree was planted on the spot where all this allegedly took place.

From Luther’s home we walked to St Mary’s Church, the “Mother Church of the Reformation” where Luther preached and was also married.

Walking on to the town square we had our first view of the Castle church and many old buildings and the town hall which line the square.

Castle Church is the famous church where, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door.  Luther gave many of his sermons in this church and now is buried just under the pulpit. The church was severely damaged twice during wars in the centuries following the Reformation, but it was rebuilt each time. The present doors were put up in the 19th century, the original wooden having been destroyed. The current doors are made of bronze and are engraved with all ninety-five theses.

It is called the Castle Church because it is part of a church-castle and the castle tower rises high above Wittenberg.

From the Castle church we returned to the boat which sailed for Dessau at 5:30.

Saturday 28 April

The boat arrived at Dessau last night around 8:45 and after breakfast we left for the town of Worlitz to visit the English Gardens of Worlitz.  These were the first English styled landscape gardens built in Europe, following the Duke’s visit to England and he used local labour to build the gardens and his summer palace and to save money and employ local tradesmen, many of the furnishings, paintings and artefacts are reproductions of overseas products.

The Duke declared that the gardens and palace were to be open to the local residents at all times and as a result his wife moved into another house nearby as she didn’t like waking up in the morning to find visitors in her bedroom.

After walking around the gardens and palace we visited the nearby Church of St Peter’s before returning to the boat for lunch on the sun deck, where we were greeted by the crew holding “Welcome Back” signs.  Shortly after returning, the boat sailed for Magdeburg our last stop before leaving for the last time for Berlin.