Eisleben

This morning we began our tour in the beautiful city of Eisleben. Here we saw the home where Luther was born, St. Peter and Paul, where he was baptized, along with St. Andrews church where Luther preached his last sermon. Luther loved this town and was always happy to return here anytime he could get away from Wittenburg.
Like Wittenburg, Eisleben is getting ready for the Luther celebration in 2017. As so often has happened on this tour, some of the sites were closed. I know a few days have gone by but I don't seem to have pictures of the houses where Luther was born or the house where he died. We were able only to see them from the outside. In fact, I can't seem to locate any of the Eisleben photo. If I find them. I will post them later. Sorry!

We then traveled to Erfurt where we met our guide near the square adjacent to St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Severin's Church. Both are amazing structures and are built right next to each other hogh on a hill about the Markplatz.


St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Severin's Church

The Cathedral is quite amazing. One is greeted at one of the portals with sculptures depicting the wise and foolish wedding servants.

Wise servants looking smug with their full jars of oil


Foolish Servants Feeling bad about the whole affair

The interior is overwhelming. It is difficult to convey the scale and grandure of these old churches. Yet, many of these huge structures worship only a handfull on Sunday.

The Sanctuary


This very modern looking sculture is from the 11th century and was my favorite part of the church.

St. Severin's is only steps away from St. Mary. Of course, St. Mary is the Cathedral church and only used for special occasions so you have to have another huge edifice right next door


St. Severin's Organ



WE walked down the hill through the charming city onto the Markplatz where we were greeted by...

A beautiful square complete with a Baroque home. In truth, the entire area was destroyed in WWII and modern buildings were built to replae them. these are facases added later to bring back charm to the square.


Erfurts smallest house

We also caught a glimpse of Erfurt's smallest house. it is only 6 feet wide. It now serves as a stairway for the house on the other side.


We also toured the Augustinian Cloister where Luther entered the Augustinian order. The c;oister is now protestant and has three protestant nuns who run the place including the little cafe. There are rooms you can rent here for a quiet retreat.

The Cloister Courtyard

It was here that Luther presented himself as a candidate for the Black Friars of the Augustinian Order. He worshiped in the chapel and was received into the order in this room.

The Chapel


We then moved to St. Augustine Church where, in a famous moment, Luther prostrated himself before this altar and made his final vows as a priest. Our guide told us that one Lutheran Pastor who was leading a group prostrated himself on the tombstone in front of the altar and invited his parishoners to photograph him. I thought is sounded a little narcissistic.

St. Augustine Church Altar


St. Augustine Nave

We ended the day in front of the Luther Memorial where we took this group picture. If you look closely you will see that some local teens joined in the picture for fun! (they are on the left)