CugelVance

Germany - 16-Jun-24 -

On the way back to Berlin from Munich on June 12, 2024, I decided to visit Torgau, which is about 50 km northeast of Leipzig. I reached the city of 20,000 inhabitants by train at around 6:30 p.m. I quickly went to my accommodation, checked in and immediately left the pension to go to the market square. Luck was on my side and I got the last free table in the  cafe Katharina, where I enjoyed a cold beer and an excellent meal while the evening sun caressed me with its mild rays. After around an hour I left the market square, walked through the attractive old town past the imposing St. Mary's Church to Hartenfels Castle. I crossed the bridge over the bear pit and arrived at the castle around 8:30 p.m. To my great surprise and delight, the castle chapel was open. There was a notice on the inner door that the castle chapel was only open very irregularly due to a lack of staff. During my approximately 30 minute stay there I was the only visitor...I had the whole church to myself (I guess that you can have a limited view of the interior of the church through the glass cover/glass door 24 hours a day; the outside door was still open at 10:30 p.m., only the glass door was closed).
I then left the castle through a tunnel almost directly next to the chapel entrance to take a few photos of the castle from the nearby bridge over the river  Elbe.
Immediately in front of the new bridge is the old bridge pillar on which the famous and iconic picture was taken, which shows American and Russian soldiers who met here for the first time on german soil during the WW2 shaking hands.
The next day I got up early, had a small breakfast in a bakery near the market square and a walk through the small old town, then I visited the craftsman's house (3€, showed how the lower classes used to live) and two small museums (priest's house and the Katharina Luther House), both of which are recommended as they both add different aspects of information to Luther's background.Then I went back to the castle, crossing the bridge above the bear pit with its 2 remaining bears, where I first visited the castle garden, then the Haussman tower (free entrance, daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) of the castle, which you can climb up and from whose viewing platform you can get a nice overview of the castle and the entire city.

In 1983 the church was completely restored. As for its OUV there is no doubt in my mind that the chapel church in Torgau should be inscribed on the unesco's  world heritage list.
Luther himself consecrated the church with a sermon on octobre the 5th, 1544, the first Protestant church in the world(according to the newest research the Tuebingen castle church is probably the first and oldest protestant church since the Reformation,but unprecise dating around 1535.) .Duke John Frederick, a deeply religious supporter of the Reformation and a faithful and loyal follower of Luther, ordered the construction of the first Protestant church in the world.

Here the reformer's ideas for protestant church services were implemented in architecture for the first time. Thats why the chapel church in Torgau is a sure bet to be inscribed on the unesco's world heritage list.The importance of the church is overwhelmingly great for a significant part of all humanity.

The interior of the church has essentially been preserved in its original form. The hall-like building with two surrounding galleries extends over two floors.When leaving the multi media exhibition I had the chance to enter the galleries and see the inside from a different perspective and angle (you have to buy a ticket,no ticket necessary for the ground floor).

At around 5 p.m on june ,the 13th , I left Torgau for Berlin.
Torgau as a whole far exceeded my expectations. The castle chapel must become a UNESCO World Heritage Site...and it will, I have no doubt about that. Torgau's old town is attractive, the castle is well worth seeing, the city has two notorious prisons, the "Jugendwerkhof", one could say, was the only youth gulag (14-18 years) in the former socialist republic and Fort Zinna,which is a truly gloomy and dark place full of cruelty and history .

Torgau is easily reachable by train from the nearby city of Leipzig or from Falkenberg.

Zoë Sheng

Chinese-Canadian - 07-Aug-24 -

Hartenfels Castle takes forever to visit. Plan 3 hours if you want to see all including hanging out at the bear cage. I actually think the castle would be better world heritage than the castle chapel but it is ONLY the chapel within the walls that wants to be inscribed, well noted by the ticket seller here, and it is free to visit. So if you just want to see the chapel it will take you a lot less time.

Martin Luther (maybe you know him for translating the bible but who knows) is credited for how the church looks like, and in fact how ALL evangelist churches should look like. There is a document (not here) that describes this better. If the document would be on display I would like to have this incribed but without and being VERY renovated I am totally against it. There is one corner of the original church that seems to fit the bill but the rest is modern and not worth seeing. I enjoyed the bears sitting around more than the church.