Kothen Attractions

13km/8mi north of Köthen on B 187A is Aken. The Town Hall (Rathaus; 1490, enlarged in 1609) is an interesting building, with a brick-built ornamental gable (15th C.). St Nicholas's Church, an aisled basilica, dates from the 12th century.

The Synagogue in Gröbzig (14km/8.5mi southwest of Köthen), built in 1796, is one of the few to have escaped destruction in 1938. It is now a museum, with a rich collection of liturgical utensils and other evidences of Jewish life and culture.

The Köthen Zoo (with some 150 species of animals), established in 1884, occupies the site of the old Fasanerie (Pheasantry).

The oldest building in Köthen, which still preserves part of its medieval ring of walls (c. 1560), is the Late Gothic Marktkirche of St James (founded 1400, completed at end of 16th C.). The towers were rebuilt about 1897.

The Köthen church of St Agnus (1694-98), in Dutch Baroque style, has paintings from the studio of Lucas Cranach and by Antoine Pesne.