Altenburg, Germany Tourist Attractions
|
|
Situation and characteristicsThe town of Altenburg, 35km/22mi south of Leipzig, a former ducal residence once notable for its fine buildings and art treasures, is now famed as the home of skat (a popular German card game which originated in this area).
Castle
Castle Museum
The Castle Museum in Altenburg has a large collection of playing cards and a playing-card-maker's workshop of 1600.
Castle Church
The Altenburg Castle Church (after 1444) has an organ by H. G. Trost (1738), on which Johann Sebastian Bach played in 1739.
Schlosspark
Notable features of the Altenburg Schlosspark, landscaped by Peter Joseph Lenné in the 19th C, are the Tea-House and the Orangery (1712).
Mauritianum
The Mauritianum, in the Altenburg Schlosspark, is a natural history museum.
Lindenau Museum
The Lindenau Museum (1873-75) in Altenburg Castle, housed in a building in Italian Renaissance style, has a varied collection - casts of antique sculpture, medieval German sculpture, Italian Renaissance and neo-classical sculpture, Greek and Etruscan vases, Italian painting of the 13th-15th centuries, and paintings, graphic art and sculpture of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Market Square
The Brühl is Altenburg's original market square. On the south side stands the Seckendorff Palace (1724-25), and opposite this is a building of 1604 which formerly housed the ducal administration, with the finest moulded stucco ceiling (restored) in Saxony and Thuringia.
Skat Fountain
The Skat Fountain, in Altenburg's Brühl, is the only monument to a card game.
St Bartholomew's Church
The Late Gothic Bartholomäuskirche in Altenburg's Market has a Romanesque crypt (12th C.).
Town Hall
The spacious Altenburg Markt is dominated by the handsome Renaissance Town Hall (by N. Grohmann, 1562-64). Also in the square can be seen a number of fine burghers' houses.
Red Points
Altenburg's Rote Spitzen - a Romanesque brick-built structure with one pointed and one curving tower - is a remnant of a 12th C church belonging to a house of Augustinian canons. The building now houses a collection of wood-carving ranging from medieval to Baroque.
Nikolaiviertel
The Nikolaiviertel in Altenburg is a picturesque old quarter, with the 12th C Nikolaiturm (views).
Surroundings
Windischleuba
In Windischleuba, 7km/4.5mi north of Altenburg, on the site of a 14th century moated castle, is a later Schloss (much rebuilt), once occupied by the poet and ballad-writer Börries von Münchhausen (1874-1945).
Kohrener Land
The Kohrener Land, northeast of Altenburg, is a popular recreation area with small patches of woodland (Streitwald, Stöckigt) and a number of features of interest.
Gnandstein
In Gnandstein, in Kohrener Land near Altenburg, stands a well preserved Romanesque stronghold, with a museum, Romanesque residential quarters, a 33 m/110ft high keep, an outer ward, women's apartments and defensive ramparts. The museum contains three altars by P. Breuer (1502/03).
Kohren-Salis
Kohren-Salis, in Kohrener Land near Altenburg, first appears in the records in 974. It has a Pottery Museum (Töpfermuseum), a Potters' Fountain (by K. Feuerriegel, 1928) and remains of an old fortification (originally Slav).
Rüdigsdorf
In the district of Rüdigsdorf is Orangery with a music room (fine frescoes of "Cupid and Psyche" by Moritz von Schwind, 1838).On the Lindenwerk is a Mill Museum.
Borna
In Borna, 18km/11mi north of Altenburg, is the 15th C St Catherine's Church, with a fine carved altar by Hans Witten. The Reichstor (Imperial Gate; 1753) is a relic of the town's old fortifications (museum).
