08:33
Banknotemaniac
Marburg is
a 77,129
inhabitants city in the valley of the river Lahn, in the western part of Hesse (Germany). Marburg is an important university town due to the University of Marburg, the oldest Protestant-founded university in the world (1527).
How do I arrive to Marburg?
Marburg is well connected with other cities in Hesse and other states.
- Train: there are trains to important destinations within Hesse like Kirchhain (aprox. 10 minutes), Wetter (aprox. 25 minutes), Gießen (aprox. 30 minutes), Wetzlar (aprox. 40 minutes), Biedenkopf (aprox. 55 minutes), Frankenberg (aprox. 1 hour), Kassel (aprox. 1 hour 5 minutes), Frankfurt am Main (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes), Limburg an der Lahn (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes). There are also trains to destinations in other federal states such as Siegen (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes) in North Rhine-Westphalia.
- Bus:
there are buses to many cities in Hesse and neighbouring states like Gießen (aprox. 30 minutes), Frankfurt am Main (aprox. 1 hour 30 minutes) or Darmstadt, Göttingen (aprox. 2 hours), Paderborn (aprox. 2 hours 30 minutes), Bielefeld (aprox. 3 hours 10 minutes), .
- Car: having a car many destinations can be reached easily in Hesse such as Kirchhain (aprox. 17 minutes), Wetter (aprox. 20 minutes), Homburg (Ohm) (aprox. 25 minutes), Gießen (aprox. 30 minutes), Biedenkopf (aprox. 35 minutes), Wetzlar (aprox. 35 minutes), Alsfeld (aprox. 45 minutes), Frankenberg (aprox. 1 hour), Kellerwald-Edersee National Park and Limburg an der Lahn (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes), Frankfurt am Main (aprox. 1 hour 10 minutes), Kassel (aprox. 1 hour 20 minutes) and Bad Hersfeld or Fulda (aprox. 1 hour 25 minutes). It can also be reached Siegen (aprox. 1 hour 15 minutes) or Cologne (aprox. 2 hours) in North Rhine-Westphalia.
History
Marburg developed at the crossroads of two important early medieval highways: the trade route linking Cologne and Prague and the trade route from the North Sea to the Alps. Marburg has been a town since 1140 first controlled by the Gisos, falling later to the Landgraves of Thuringia. In 1228, the widowed princess-landgravine of Thuringia, Elizabeth of Hungary, chose Marburg as her dowager seat and in 1264 her daughter, Sophie of Brabant, succeeded in winning the Landgraviate of Hessen for her son Henry with Marburg (alongside Kassel) being one of the capitals of Hessen from that time until about 1540. Following the first division of the landgraviate, it was the capital of Hessen-Marburg from 1485 to 1500 and again between 1567 and 1605. After that year it became just another provincial town, known mostly for the University of Marburg, the oldest Protestant-founded university in the world (1527), being also one of the smallest university towns in Germany. It survived as a relatively intact Gothic town and in the Romanticism period, Marburg became interesting once again, with many of the leaders of the movement living, teaching or studing in Marburg (such as Friedrich Karl von Savigny, Achim von Arnim, Clemens Brentano or the Brothers Grimm). After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Hesse was annexed by Prussia won and took the opportunity to invade and annex the Electorate of Hesse, making Marburg the administrative center in this part of the new province Hessen-Nassau and to turn the University of Marburg into the regional academic centre. Franz von Papen, vice-chancellor of Germany in 1934, delivered an anti-Nazi speech at the University of Marburg on 17 June and from 1942 to 1945, the whole city of Marburg was turned into a hospital (as a result of this it didn't suffer much damage from bombings).
What can I visit in Marburg?
The city of Marburg is located around Schlossberg, where the castle is, and its Oberstadt is full of cozy streets with restored half-timbered houses from different centuries.
These are Marburg's main attractions:
Marburg Landgrafen Castle (10-18 Tue-Sun from Apr to Oct; 10-16 Tue-Sun from Nov to Mar; 3€/ 2€/ free adults/ retiree and students/ people under 18): Schloss first built in the 11th century as a fort, becoming the first residence of Landgraviate of Hesse in the 13th century, under Heinrich I. The Marburg Colloquy, a meeting between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli to solve a disputation over the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, was held here in 1529 (although it wasn't fruitful). It lost its function as one of the main residences of the Landgraves of Hesse in 1604 with the death of Landgrave Ludwig IV, being used as a prision or the home of the Hessian State Archives. The castle currently is home of the Art and Cultural History Museum of the University of Marburg (11-17 Wed-Mon; 5€/ 3€/ free adults/ retiree and students/ people under 18),
Marburg Landgrafen Castle
museum that shows the history of the city and has works of art of the classical Modernism period such as Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, outstanding works by the post-war avant-garde from the Hilde Eitel collection and works from the 19th century (especially the colony of Willingshausen artists like Carl Bantzer, Johann Giebel and Wilhelm Thielmann). Visiting the museum includes the visit to the historical rooms of the castle too. In front of the castle there's the Camera Obscura of Marburg, a walk-in pinhole camera.
Art and Cultural History Museum
of the University of Marburg- Gardens of Landgrafen Castle: park that serve as a recreational area and impresses the visitor with its vastness and diverse design, having over 7000 roses in the park. It's worth seeing the Judizierhäuschen, judges' house, from 1627.
Collection of Religious Studies
of the University of Marburg - Collection of Religious Studies of the University of Marburg
(14-16 Mon, 11-17 Wed;): collection located in the Neue Kanzlei (former landrgrave chancellery) that is one of the few museums that shows the diversity of the world's religions on the basis of objects and pictorial material (having its own specialist library, with more than 30,000 books). It comprises around 10,000 objects, focused in South and East Asia (Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Shinto and Tenrikyo) and having objects related to ancient America, ancient Egypt, Central and Northern Europe, Africa and the monotheistic religions too.
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St. Marien Lutheran Church: church that was originally founded as a Romanesque building, transformed into Gothic in the 14th century. The church houses the tomb of Landgrave Ludwig IV and his wife Hedwig von Württemberg, consisting of a sandstone plinth with marble columns and alabaster sculptures, and has a bell tower, whose helmet is crooked, that is one of the city's landmarks.
Choir of St. Marien Lutheran Church - St. Johannes Evangelist Catholic Church, also known as Kugelkirche: 15th century church built in the late-Gothic style that belonged to a former monastery. After it was dissolved in 1527, was bequeathed to the newly founded University of Marburg untill it recovered its religious function as a Catholic parish in 1827. It has a spherical shape with a rich network vault from that has late Gothic-paintings and some Neo-Gothic decoration.
- Romanticism Museum of Marburg (14-17 Tue-Fri, 11-13 and 14-17 Sat-Sun; 3€/ 2€ adults/ reduced): small museum that gives and insight into the cultural history of Romanticism and its importance in Marburg, trying preserve and cultivate the memory of the Marburg Romantic Circle.
Marburg Old Town Hall - Marburg Old Town Hall: late-Gothic Rathaus built in the 1520s. Its Renaissance style tower with an astronomical clock and a golden globe was added in 1581 because it seemed too simple to the Marburgers.
- Kilianskapelle:
former chapel buil in the 12th century in Romanesque style with a
half-timbered upper floor, being the oldest church in the city. It held
services until the Reformation was introduced in Hesse (1526), having
then multiple functions like being the guild room of shoemakers, a
bakery, a pigsty, a school and orphanage and since 2013, student
accommodation.
Elisabethkirche - Elisabethkirche (10-16 Mon-Fri, 10-17 Sat, 11:15-17 Sun; 2.70€/ 1.70€ adults/ reduced):
Lutheran church built by the Teutonic Order in honour of St.
Elizabeth of Hungary, princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and Landgravine
of Thuringia. Here it's placed her tomb, making the church an important
pilgrimage destination during the late Middle Ages. The church is one
of the earliest purely Gothic churches in German-speaking areas, used
later as a model for Cologne Catholic Cathedral and St. Paul Catholic
Church in Strasbourg. It has two towers, a triple choir and its main
treasure is the Gothic shrine of St. Elizabeth (other pieces of
religious art are also exhibited). Until the 16th century, the
Landgraves of Hesse were buried in the church but, after the Reformation,
the remains of St. Elizabeth were moved to
St. Elizabeth Convent (Vienna), Košice and the Reliquary of St.
Elizabeth in the Swedish History Museum (Stockholm).
Kaiser Wilhelm Tower - Mineralogical Museum of the University of Marburg (10-13 and 15-18 Wed, 10-13 Thu-Fri, 11-15 Sat-Sun; 2 €): extensive collection of geological finds that go back to the end of the 18th century. It currently comprises 60,000 minerals, 55,000 rock samples, 15,000 raw gemstone samples and 150 meteorites, having the largest collection of minerals and rocks in Hessen. It's located in the last remaining farm buildings of the Marburg branch of the Teutonic Order.
- St. Michaelskapelle: Gothic chapel with an old cemetery with pilgrims' graves around the chapel and a small park. It isn't open continuously but from here there are good views of Elisabethkirche.
- Kaiser Wilhelm Tower, also known as Spiegelslustturm: 19th century tower located on the wooded hill opposite the castle, offering a good view of the upper town. There's a myth that the visitor is only allowed to be visited after successfully completing your studies.
Marburg New Botanical Garden - Marburg New Botanical Garden (9-18 from Apr to Oct; 9-16 from Nov to Mar; 2€/ 1€ adults/ reduced): botanical garden maintained by the University of Marburg created between 1961-1977 to replace Marburg Old Botanical Garden (from 1810). It has different outdoor areas such an alpinum, an arboretum, a forest, a garden for medicinal and useful plants and different greenhouses.
- Elisabethbrunnen: fountain is located inside an imposing fountain temple from the 16th century, located a little outside of Schröck, where St. Elizabeth is said to have wandered here often to distribute alms to the poor.
- Marienkirche: Lutheran church in Gothic style that is located in the district of Wehrshausen that served as a station for the pilgrimage to Elisabethkirche. The church wasn't used from the Reformation untill 1732. It has remarkable late-Gothic furnishings and a Baroque pulpit.
- Old Police Car Museum (open on request): museum shows vehicles from several decades of German police history.
It has police motorcycles, patrol cars, armored special vehicles, water cannons and heavy vehicles from the police force, focused in the period after the Second World War.
Ruins of Frauenberg Castle - Going 6 km south of Marburg it can be found the Ruins of Frauenberg Castle, a former Burg with a beautiful view of the Amöneburg basin. The castle was built in 1250 by order of the Duchess Sophie von Brabant, daughter of Saint Elisabeth and mother of the still underage Landgrave Heinrich I of Hesse, to secure Marburg. It lost its strategic importance in 1437 and soon after it fell into disrepair.
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| Kirchaim and its Town Hall |
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| Rapunzel Tower |
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