Magdeburg, an important inland port at the intersection of the Mittelland Canal and the Elbe-Havel Canal, lies on the Elbe at the eastern edge of the fertile Magdeburger Börde. It was the home of the great scientist Otto von Guericke, who was also a diplomat and burgomaster of the town, and the birthplace of the composer Georg Philipp Telemann.
The Cathedral contains a number of impressive sights, including alabaster statues of St Maurice and the Risen Christ, 13th C seated figures of the Emperor Otto I and his wife, and a WWI memorial by Ernst Barlach.
Just north of the Domplatz in Magdeburg is the Convent of Our Lady. The church (c. 1064-1230) is now the Georg Philipp Telemann Concert Hall. The conventual buildings (1135-50), including the cloister, the fountain-house, the chapel and the refectory, are now occupied by exhibitions (small sculpture in the refectory, older sculpture in wood in the barrel-vaulted central range). In the gardens are large modern works of sculpture.
The "Magdeburg Horseman" in the Alter Markt is believed to be the oldest post-antique free-standing equestrian statue in Germany. In 1966 the original statue was replaced by a copy (under a canopy) and can now be seen in the Municipal Museum (Otto-von-Guericke-Strasse 68-73).
On the east bank of the Elbe in Magdeburg, between the Stromelbe and the Alte Elbe, lies the Rotehorn Park (established 1871), with a variety of facilities for recreation and relaxation.
14km/8.5mi north of Magdeburg is the Rothensee ship-lift (1938), linking the Elbe and the Mittelland Canal. Here ships are raised and lowered 16 m/52ft in a "trough" 85 m/93yd long and 12 m/39ft wide.
The convent church in Hadmersleben (27km/17mi southwest of Magdeburg) is mainly Early Gothic. Below the Nuns' Gallery is the Romanesque Lower Church (11th C.), with groined vaulting borne on stocky columns with finely carved capitals. Of the conventual buildings there survive the 12th C chapterhouse and part of the Late Gothic cloister (under Baroque upper stories).
Leitzkau (28km/18mi south of Magdeburg) has a Renaissance Schloss (begun 1564) which belonged to a branch of the Münchhausen family, as well as the remains of a Romanesque monastic church.
Near the Town Hall are the Dr Eisenbart Monument (commemorating a notorious 17th century physician), the Otto von Guericke Monument and a monument to Martin Luther. Nearby, too, is the ruined Late Gothic church of St John (Johanniskirche), with exhibitions on the history of the town in the room under the tower and the crypt.
Visitors can get a general impression of Magdeburg by walking along the Elbuferpromenade, which follows the left bank of the Elbe from the Lukasturm (mid 15th C.), which stood at the northeast corner of the town's fortifications.
Near the north end of the promenade can be seen two interesting buildings: St Peter's Church (Petrikirche; c. 1380 to end 15th C.) and the early 14th C Magdalene Chapel.
Schönebeck (18km/11mi southeast of Magdeburg) has an Early Gothic church with two Baroque towers and numbers of Baroque houses. In the Salzelmen district are a Late Gothic hall-church with a richly furnished interior and a number of handsome half-timbered burghers' houses. The District Museum has exhibits covering salt-working in Schönebeck and shipping on the Elbe. Of the old brine spa (1802; the first in Germany) there survive the "evaporation hall" in the Kurpark and the Solturm (Brine Tower).
On the west side of the Rotehorn park in Magdeburg is the Stadthalle (1927), flanked by the Pferdetor (Horse Gate; sculpture by M. Rossdeutscher) and an outlook tower (Aussichtsturm).
On the east side of the Alter Markt in Magdeburg is the most handsome secular building in the old town, the Town Hall (Rathaus), a two-story Baroque building of 1691-98. In the north part of the building, for example in the Ratskeller, is 12th-13th C vaulting.
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Hadmersleben, Germany
