Tourist Attractions in Detmold

12km/7.5mi south of Detmold (2km/1.25mi west of Horn-Bad Meinberg) are the Externsteine, a group of fissured sandstone rocks, the highest rising to 37.5 m/123ft, originally a pagan shrine and later a Christian place of pilgrimage (monumental stone carving of the Descent from the Cross, c. 1120).

On the Königsberg in Detmold is the Westphalian Open-Air Museum, covering an area of 80 hectares/200 acres, with 90 buildings brought here from different parts of Westphalia (demonstrations of old craft techniques; special exhibitions).

In the Heiligenkirchen district, 4km/2.5mi south of Detmold, is a bird park with 320 different species of birds.

The 16th C. Erlöserkirche (Protestant) has an organ of 1795.

The Donop Fountain in Detmold's Markt was built in 1901.

In the Berlebeck district, 5km/3mi south of Detmold, can be found the Adlerwarte, with 80 birds of prey from all over the world.

8km/5mi southwest of Detmold on the Grotenburg (386m/1,266ft)), rises the Hermannsdenkmal (by Ernst von Bandel, 1838-75), a huge monument commemorating the battle in the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D. in which the Cheruscan chieftain Hermann (Arminius) inflicted a crushing defeat on the Roman army. The total height of the monument, including the base, is 53m/174ft.

The Detmold Landestheater was built between 1914 and 1918.

The central feature of Detmold's old town is the Markt.

On the south side of Detmold, in the beautiful Allee, is the Neues Palais (1708-17), now occupied by the North-West German Academy of Music. Behind the palace is the beautiful Palaisgarten.

To the north of the Markt in Detmold is the Hofgarten (entrance in Lange Strasse), with the Schloss, a palace in Weser Renaissance style (by Jörg Unkair and Cord Tönnis, 1548-57) with four wings laid out round a central courtyard, incorporating an older tower of 1470. It contains valuable collections of tapestries and porcelain.

To the northwest of the Hofgarten in Detmold, on the Ameide, is the Landesmuseum (natural history, ethnography, local material).

The neo-classical Town Hall in Detmold's Markt was built in 1830.