Lutherstadt Wittenberg is closely associated with the Lutheran Reformation in Germany. Popular sights include the Lutherhaus Museum, Schlosskirche, and Cranach Workshop.

The numerous sights associated with the German church Reformation led by Martin Luther in the early sixteenth century are the main tourist draws of Lutherstadt Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt. Especially in summer, tourists flock from Germany and afar to see the houses where Martin Luther, Philip Melanchton, and Lukas Cranach lived and worked, the Schlosskirche where Luther supposedly nailed his 95 Theses to the door, the castle, as well as the pretty old town.

• In 1996, many of the sights associated with Martin Luther in Lutherstadt Wittenberg (and Eisleben) were inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list.

The main tourist sights in Lutherstadt Wittenberg are all along Collegienstraße, which leads uphill through the old town before changing into Schlossstraße after the Market Square.

Sights along Collegienstraße in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany

At the bottom of Collegienstraße, near the train station, is the Luthereiche (Luther Oak) where Martin Luther burnt a copy of the papal ban and several books. The present oak was planted in 1830.

Martin Luther lived most of his life nearby in what is now called the Lutherhaus (Luther’s House). The excellent museum here is on the Reformation with clear explanations of the history and circumstances surrounding the Lutheran Reformation of the early sixteenth century.

Back in Collegien Street is the mid-sixteenth-century Collegium Augusteum and adjacent at No 60 is the Philipp Melanchtonhaus. Melanchton (1497-1560) was a close friend of Luther and reformed the German education system. The house has interesting architectural features but the displays inside are of lesser interest to foreign visitors.

Nearby is the Alte Univesität where both Luther and Melanchton taught. It functioned from 1502 until 1817.

Sights in the Marktplatz (Market Square) Area in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany

The Marktplatz has nineteenth-century statues of Luther and Melanchton and the Renaissance façade of the Rathaus (Town Hall) completed in 1535.

At Markt 6 is the birthplace of Lucas Cranach the Younger and home of the more accomplished Lucas Cranach the Elder, the unofficial painter of the Reformation, who lived here from1505 to 1547. The house received a Baroque makeover after the Prussians partly destroyed it during the Seven Years’ War.

The fourteenth-century Gothic Stadtkirche St Marien (St Mary’s Town Church) is the oldest building in Wittenberg. It has a famous altarpiece by Lucas Cranach. The church is reached from the Market Square via a narrow alley.

Sights in Schlossstraße, Lutherstadt Wittenberg

The Cranach Höfe (Courtyards) at Schlossstraße 1 housed the extensive workshops of Lucas Cranach the Elder. (Cranach’s clear capitalist instincts had him in disfavor during the early years of the Communist East Germany.) The complex was recently restored and has a museum and several artists’ workshops.

The nearby Haus der Geschichte (House of History) has interesting displays of ordinary life in the former East Germany. It has typical kitchens, lounges, and bedrooms from various periods that clearly show how technology and styles increasingly lagged behind developments in the West.

Schloss Wittenberg and the Schlossskirche (Reformation Church)

At the far end of the old town are the Schloss (Castle) and Schlosskirche (Church). Both were extensively damaged during wars and rebuilt different from the medieval originals. Martin Luther would not be able to recognize either – the present church even incorporated one of the original castle towers.

• The Schloss (Castle) has an interesting restaurant in the vaulted cellars where local cuisine is dished up in ample portions.

The nineteenth-century neo-Gothic Schlossskirche of Wittenberg is famous. According to legend, Martin Luther started his Reformation efforts here by nailing his 95 Theses to the church door on October 31, 1517. (Serious historians now generally agree this never happened.)

The original church and indeed door were destroyed in 1760 – the current door with the 95 Theses in bronze (and usefully in German rather than Latin) is from 1855. The graves of Luther and Melanchton are inside the church. Also, note the bronze epitaph by Peter Vischer of Frederick the Wise.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser School in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Germany

The Lutherstadt Wittenberg tourist information office is across the road from the Schlosskirche. It is a good place to enquire about directions to the Luther Melanchton Gymnasium. This school was built in 1975 according to the drab East German standard Erfurt Type II floor plan.

Viennese artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser redesigned the building after the reunification of Germany into his typical multicolor façade with mosque-like towers. Visitors are welcome weekends and on school day afternoons.

• Although Lutherstadt Wittenberg is the cradle of the Lutheran Reformation, several other towns in Germany have important Martin Luther sights too. Lutherstadt Wittenberg has good transportation links and is often seen on a stopover when traveling between Berlin and Leipzig.