Wittenberg, officially
Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany
in the
Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt
, on the River
Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000.
The importance of Wittenberg historically was due to its seat of
the
Elector of Saxony, a dignity held
by the dukes of
Saxe-Wittenberg and
also to its close connection with
Martin
Luther and the dawn of the
Protestant Reformation; several of
its buildings are associated with the events of this time. Part of
the
Augustinian monastery in which Luther dwelt, first as a monk
and later as owner with his wife and family, is preserved and
considered to be the world's premier museum dedicated to
Luther.
History
A settlement was mentioned first in 1180 as a small village founded
by
Flemish colonists under the rule of the
House of Ascania. In 1260 it became
the residence of the dukes of
Saxe-Wittenberg, and in 1293 the settlement
was granted a
town charter.
Wittenberg developed into an important trade centre during the
following centuries, due to its location. When the Ascanians died
out, Saxe-Wittenberg passed to the
House
of Wettin. The city became an important regional political and
cultural centre at the end of the
15th
century, when
Frederick III "the Wise",
Elector of Saxony, took up residence in Wittenberg. Several
parts of the city were extended soon afterward: the second bridge
over the Elbe was built from 1486 to 1490 and the castle church,
the
Schlosskirche, was built from 1496 to 1506. The palace
was rebuilt the same time.
In 1502
the University of
Wittenberg
was founded and gave a home to many important
thinkers, among them Martin Luther
(Professor of Theology from 1508) and Philipp Melanchthon (Professor of Greek
from 1518).
On
October 31, 1517, Luther nailed his
95 theses against the selling of indulgences at the door of the All Saints', the
Castle Church
, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
The
Anabaptist movement also had one of its
earliest homes in Wittenberg, when the Zwickau prophets moved there in late 1521,
only to be suppressed by Luther when he returned from the Wartburg
in spring
1522. The
Capitulation
of Wittenberg (1547) is the name given to the treaty by which
John Frederick the
Magnanimous was compelled to resign the electoral dignity and
most of his territory to the Albertine branch of the
House of Wettin.
In 1760
during the Seven Years' War, the
Prussian
-occupied town was bombarded by the Austrians. It was occupied by the
French in 1806, and refortified
in 1813 by command of
Napoleon.
In 1814 it was stormed by the
Prussian
Army under
Tauentzien, who
received the title of "von Wittenberg" as a reward.
In 1815 Wittenberg
became part of Prussia and was administered
within the Province of
Saxony
. Wittenberg continued to be a fortress of the
third class until the reorganisation of German defences after the
foundation of the new German Empire
led to its being dismantled in 1873.
Unlike many other historic German cities during
World War II, Wittenberg was spared destruction
during the war. The
Allies
agreed not to bomb Wittenberg, though there was fighting in the
city, with bullet pock-marks visible on the statues of Luther and
Melanchthon at the market square, or so the popular version of the
city's history goes. In actuality, the Luther statue was not even
present in the city square during much of the war. It was stored at
Luther Brunnen, a roadhouse only a few kilometers north of the
city.
Wittenberg's reputation as a city protected from Allied bombing is
also not historically accurate. There was on the outskirts of
Wittenberg the
Arado
Flugzeugwerke (Arado Aircraft Factory), which produced aircraft
components for the
Luftwaffe.
The factory was
staffed by Jews, Russians
, Poles
, political prisoners and even a few
Americans
- all prisoners engaging in forced labour. Despite the prisoner
status of its workers, American
and British
planes
bombed the factory near the end of the war. One thousand
prisoner workers were killed. The recent publication of "...und
morgen war Krieg!" by Renate Gruber-Lieblich attempts to document
this tragic bombing of Wittenberg.
At the
end of the war, Wittenberg was occupied by Soviet forces and became part of East
Germany
in 1949. By means of the
peaceful revolution in 1989, the
communist regime was brought down and the city has been governed
democratically since 1990.
Main sights
Wittenberg is home to numerous important historical artifacts, as
well as portraits and other paintings by the
Cranachs.
On the doors of All Saints'
Church, the Schlosskirche
("castle church" built 1496–1506) Luther nailed his
95 theses in 1517. It was seriously
damaged by fire in 1760 during a bombardment by the French during
the
Seven Years' War, was
practically rebuilt, and was later (1885–1892) restored. The wooden
doors, burnt in 1760, were replaced in 1858 by bronze doors,
bearing the
Latin text of the theses. Inside
the church are the tombs of Luther and
Philipp Melanchthon, and of the electors
Frederick the Wise (by
Peter Vischer the Younger, 1527)
and
John the Constant (by
Hans Vischer), and portraits of the reformers
by
Lucas Cranach the
Younger.St. Mary's Church, the parish church in which Luther
often preached, was built in the
14th
century, but has been much altered since Luther's time. It
contains a magnificent painting by
Lucas Cranach the Elder,
representing the
Last Supper (with the
faces of Luther and other reformers), Baptism and Confession, also
a font by
Hermann Vischer the
Elder (1457). In addition, there are numerous historic
paintings in the church.The ancient electoral palace is another of
the buildings that suffered severely in 1760; it now contains
archives.There are also Melanchthon's house and the house of Lucas
Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), who was mayor of Wittenberg.Statues
of Luther (by Schadow), Melanchthon and Bugenhagen embellish the
town.The spot outside the Elster Gate where Luther publicly burned
the
papal bull in 1520 is marked by an
oak tree.
Coat of arms
Wittenberg's civic
coat of arms conveys
with its various heraldic elements something of the town's history.
On
27 June, 1293, Wittenberg was granted
town rights by Duke Albrecht II. There then arose a mediaeval town
whose highest governing body was its council. This council, known
to have existed as early as 1317, was given the job of
administering the town in its care through law and legislation, and
of handling the town's revenue. For documentation, the
administration used its own seal.One version of what is believed to
be the town's oldest town seal, which the council used, and which
dated from the first half of the
14th
century, set the pattern with its elements for various civic
coats of arms down to the present day.
The coat of arms symbolizes, with its crenelated wall and the
towers within and each side, a town that was already strongly
fortified by 1409.
The two shields in the centre form the coat
of arms of the Electorate of Saxony with the Saxon arms on the
right, whose gold and black stripes recall the Ascanian rulers'
house colours with the Rautenkranz (literally "lozenge
wreath", although it is no such thing, as can be seen at the
Saxony
article)
across them symbolizing the town's founder Duke Albrecht II since
1262, when it appeared in his arms.The shield on the left is
the Wittenberg district's arms. In 1356, Emperor
Charles IV bestowed upon the
Duke of Saxony-Wittenberg the honour of Elector. Wittenberg became
an Electoral residence. The shield with its crossed swords stands
for the office of "Arch-Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire"
inextricably joined by the Electorate, brought to Wittenberg by
Rudolf I. Both coats of arms continued to be used by the
Wettin after the Ascanians died out.The
flowing water at the foot of the shield symbolizes Wittenberg's
location on the River Elbe.The fish is a
salmon, which were once abundant in the Elbe. The
fishermen, like all professions in town, got
their own order in 1422, and the fish found its way onto their coat
of arms.
Theatre and culture
Wittenberg has a long tradition in cultural events.
The City Theatre
(Mitteldeutsches Landestheater) reached a great importance
in GDR
times. Since 1996, the City proposes open-air theatre shows
based on the Lutheran history still alive in many historical places
of the ancient town. As highlights, in 2001 and 2005,
Fernando Scarpa became the
artistic director of the
"Bühne
Wittenberg" (Stage Wittenberg), a project for theatre, art and
culture in the whole of Germany which attracts to the City plenty
of audience and whose success achieves European echo.
Hamlet and
Dr Faustus are
said to have studied here.
International relations
Twin towns — sister cities
Wittenberg is
twinned with:
- Göttingen
, Germany
, since
1988
- Bretten
, Germany, since 1990
- Springfield, Ohio
, USA
, since
1995
- Békéscsaba
, Hungary
, since 1999
- Haderslev, Denmark
, since 2004
Gallery
Image:Luther_Wittenberg.JPG|"Lutherdenkmal auf dem Marktplatz",
Luther Memorial on the market placeImage:Wittenberg
Melachtonhaus.JPG|"Melanchton-Haus", House of Philipp
MelanchthonImage:Wittenberg Schlosskirche.JPG|"Schlosskirche", All
Saints ChurchImage:Schlosskirchenturm_Wittenberg.JPG|"Turm der
Schlosskirche", Tower of All Saints ChurchImage:Stadtkirche
Wittenberg.JPG|"Stadtkirche", City ChurchImage:Wittenberg
Stadtkirche.JPG|"Stadtkirche", City
ChurchImage:Rathaus_Wittenberg.JPG|"Rathaus", Town
HallImage:Theater Wittenberg.JPG|"Theater in Wittenberg",
TheatreImage:Elbbrücke_Wittenberg.JPG| "Elbbrücke bei Wittenberg",
Bridge over the River Elbe near
WittenbergImage:Judensau-Wittenberg.jpg| Detail of a
JudensauImage:Wittenberg Straße.jpg| Johann
Sebastian Bach StraßeFile:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F088888-0010,
Wittenberg, Ortseingang.jpg| The town sign
External links