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Banknotemaniac
Limburg an der Lahn is
a 35,514
inhabitants town by the river Lahn, part of Lahn Valley, in the western part of Hesse in Germany (very close to Rhineland-Palatinate). It's also part of the region of Giessen. The town is famous for its marvelous medieval town center with its timber-framed houses and its cathedral. How do I arrive to Limburg an der Lahn?
Limburg an der Lahn is very well connected with other cities in Hesse and in Rhineland-Palatinate, because it's on the way between Cologne and Frankfurt am Main.
- Train: there are often trains to important destinations within Hesse like Gießen (aprox. 55 minutes), Wiesbaden (aprox. 1 hour), Frankfurt am Main (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes) or Fulda (aprox. 3 hours). There are also trains to destinations in other federal states such as Koblenz (aprox. 1 hour 5 minutes) and Siegen (aprox. 2 hours 15 minutes); Frankfurt am Main (aprox. 35 minutes) or Cologne (aprox. 45 minutes), that depart from Limburg Süd Station.
- Bus: there are buses to many cities in Hesse and neighbouring states like Frankfurt am Main (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes), Bonn (aprox. 1 hour 50 minutes), Cologne (aprox. 2 hours 25 minutes) or Würzburg (aprox. 3 hours 25 minutes).
- Car: having a car many destinations can be reached easily such as Runkel (aprox. 15 minutes), Weilburg (aprox. 25 minutes), Braunfels (aprox. 30 minutes), Wetzlar (aprox. 35 minutes), Wiesbaden (aprox. 40 minutes), Gießen (aprox. 45 minutes), Frankfurt am Main (aprox. 55 minutes). From Limburg the visitor can drive to destinations in Rhineland-Palatinate such as Montabaur (aprox. 20 minutes) or Koblenz (aprox. 40 minutes) and even reach Bonn (aprox. 1 hour), Siegen (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes) or Cologne (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes) in North Rhine-Westphalia.
History
About 800 A.D., the first castle buildings arose on the Limburg cragsto protect a ford over the river Lahn and in the decades that followed, the town developed under the castle's protection. Limburg is first mentioned in documents in 910 (with the name of Lintpurc) and it benefited from lively goods trade on the Via Publica (the road from Cologne to Frankfurt am Main ran through Limburg too). In the early 13th century Limburg Castle was built (passing to the Lords of Ysenburg) and in 1214 the community was granted town rights. The cathedral was consecrated in 1235 and Römer 2-4-6 was built too. In , Limburg's Jews were expelled from the town in 1337 (and accepted again in 1341) and in 1344 a half of Limburg was pledged to the Electorate of Trier (by 1420 the town passed wholly into the ownership of Trier), leading to a gradual decline (together with Black Death). During the German Peasants' War unrest also arose in Limburg but negociated concessions were overturn and townsmen were stripped of their right to send two representatives to town council. In 1806, Limburg came into the possession of the newly founded Duchy of Nassau, the town wall was torn down in 1818 and the town was raised to a Catholic episcopal seat in 1827. In 1866 the Duchy of Nassau (and therefore Limburg) passed to Prussia in the wake of the Austro-Prussian War, becoming a railway hub as of 1862. During WW1 there was a major prisoner of war camp at Limburg an der Lahn (with many Irish members of the British Army) and from 1919 to 1923, Limburg was the capital of a short-lived state called Free State Bottleneck because it was the nearest unoccupied town to the Weimar Republic.
What can I visit in Limburg an der Lahn?
Limburg is a quite nice place where there are numerous half-timbered houses in its Altstadt, built between the 13th and 19th centuries and renovated and restores since 1972.
These are Limburg an der Lahn's main attractions:
- Catholic Cathedral of Limburg an der Lahn (8-19 from Apr to Oct; 9-17 from Nov to Mar): 13th century Dom built in one of the highest point of Limburg, visible from all over the town, and seat of the Diocese of Limburg. The cathedral is the result of an early-Gothic modernization of an originally early-Romanesque building, showing a Romanesque-Gothic transitional style. The construction began around the year 1175 and was inaugurated in 1235 by the Archbishop of Trier (Theoderich von Wied). It has a twin-tower façade (common in the Rheinland) with a huge round windowsurrounded by eight small rosettes, having seven towers with nine bells while the interior of the cathedral is almost completely undecorated but it's quite bright. During restorations of 1873 the polychrome exterior painting of the cathedral was removed but in 1972 it was restored.
- Diocese Museum of Limburg and Domschatz (10-13 and 14-17 Tue-Sat, 11-17 Sun; 3€/ 2€/ free adults/ students and people under 18/ kids under 12): museum that show the history of the diocese of Limburg and the cathedral using historical objects. The most valuable pieces of sacred art are the Limburg Staurothek with a relic of the true cross of Christ, a Byzantine work from the 10th century, as well as the St Peter's rod. The museum also has a collection of medieval iconography and its main work is probably the terracotta sculpture of the Lamentation of Christ from 1415.
- Limburg Castle: Burg that was first built around the year 800 to protect river Lahn and that from the 13th century it was used as residence of the Lords of Limburg and then of Isenburg family. In 1866 the castle fell to Prussia and from then on it was partially empty, being a trade school from 1883 and part of Hesse heritage in since 1945. Today the castle is being restored by an association created with the aim of preventing the castle from being privatized and it's planned to result being used as a museum.
- Limburg Art Collection (8:30-14 Tue-Wed, 11-17 Thu-Sun from Mar to Nov; free): local art collection dedicated to the famous silhouette artist Ernst Moritz Engert and that has works of other local artists.
- All over the town there are many half-timbered houses that make Limburg an unique town. Some of the most beautiful ones are Römer 2-4-6 House (one of the oldest timbered houses in Germany, from 1289), Haus der sieben Laster, Fischmarkt 16-17 House or Werner-Senger House.
- St. Anna Catholic Church: former hospital church built 14th-15th centuries, restored in Baroque style after damage in the Thirty Years War. It keeps valuable equipment like stained glass windows from the 14th century, an organ front from 1749 and pulpit from 1753.
- Old Bridge of Limburg: bridge first built in the 14th century and rebuilt after WW2. A walk on the banks of the Lahn should not be missed and from here there are nice views of the Altstadt.
- Navy Museum of Limburg: small museum that aims to preserve and continue the maritime tradition in the city of Limburg an der Lahn. It's only opened some days a year.
- Very close to Limburg there's Dietkirchen (1,724 inhabitants), a former town that was merged with Limburg. Its main sightseeing point is St. Lubentius Catholic Church, a Romanesque church from the 11th-12th centuries located on a rock outcrop by the river Lahn that holds relics of St. Lubentius was the most important church of the region until the 13th century because of its role in the Christianization of the Lahngau. It used to have a prissioner camp during WW1 (mainly English, Irish and French soldiers were placed here) and now has a Celtic cross to commemorate the Irish who had died in the camp.
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| Half-timbered houses at Bischofsplatz |
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| Interior of the Catholic Cathedral of Limburg an der Lahn |
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| Runkel Caslte and Runkel Bridge on river Lahn |
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| Renaissance courtyard of Weilburg Palace |
Another interesting place is Weilburg (12,973 inhabitants), a town located 20 km northeast from Limburg with a beautiful old town. The main sightseeing point in the town is Weilburg Palace (10-17 Tue-Sun from Mar to Oct; 10-16 Tue-Sun from Nov to Feb; 5€/ 3€ adults/ reduced), a magnificent Schloss built between the 16th and 18th centuries that was the former residential palace of the House of Nassau, the Dukes of Nassau-Weilburg. It was sold to the State of Prussia in 1935. Its most spectacular part is the Renaissance courtyard
and the castle has a nice Baroque garden with several terraces too. In the castle there are some museums such as Mining and City Museum of Weilburg (10-17 Tue-Sun from Apr to Oct; 10-17 Mon-Fri from Nov to Mar; 3.50€/ 2.50€ adults/ reduced), museum that teach about the history of Weilburg and about mining in the town and the neighbouring areas (including original mining machinery). There's a combined ticket for the palace and the museum (7€/ 4€ adults/ reduced). Next to the palace there's also the Schlosskirche, a Lutheran church built in the 18th century desgined by Julius Ludwig Rothweil in the times of Count Johann Ernst von Nassau-Weilburg.
The town is also home of the oldest and longest still passable ship tunnel in Germany, Weilburger Schifffahrtstunnel, a 195 m long tunnel built in the 1840s that avoids the 2 km long curve of the river Lahn. There are great views of the Altstadt from tower Kranenturm on the other side of the river.
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| Braunfels Castle |
Driving 12 km from Weilburg it can be visited Braunfels (10,934 inhabitants), a town with some half-timbered houses, specially located in Marktplatz. The town has two important castles: Braunfels Castle (guided tours; 9€/ 4€/ 3€ adults/ students/ kids under 10), a Schloss built for the Counts of Solms in the 13th century (still owned by the Counts of Oppersdorff zu Solms-Braunfels) that was modified in 1880 according to Neo-Gothic plans by Edwin Oppler and owns an importnat art collection with works by the Dutch Masters (among them van Eyck); and Philippstein Castle, castle ruins surrounded by a dry moat that still preserves the round keep, remains of the cellar and parts of the surrounding wall.
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