Erfurt - Anger

At the corner of the Anger and Bahnhofstrasse in Erfurt can be found the old Packhof (formerly a custom-house of the Electorate of Mainz), a richly decorated Baroque building which is now occupied by the Anger Museum (fine art collection).

Farther along the Anger in Erfurt is the Bartholomäusturm, the stump of a tower (12th C.) belonging to the family chapel of the influential Counts von Gleichen, whose town house was here. The tower has a carillon (1979) of 60 bells cast in the Apolda bell foundry.

Along Erfurt's Anger, past a monumental fountain of 1889-90 and the Wigbertikirche (1210), the court church of the Electoral governors of the town, is the Statthalterei, the old governor's residence, the town's most monumental secular building. Formed in 1711-20 from two older patrician houses, it has magnificent Renaissance decoration and a handsome Baroque facade. The Great Hall (area 200 sq. m/2150 sq. ft) was the scene of a memorable meeting between Napoleon and Goethe in 1808. Goethe frequently stayed in a nearby house belonging to the Dukes of Saxony-Weimar at Regierungsstrasse 72.