The “Romanesque Road” in the region between the Harz Mountains and the River Elbe in Saxon-Anhalt was once one of Germany’s most important political and cultural centres. It was the land of the early kings and emperors who emerged in the tenth century. Magnificent cathedrals, small country churches, cloisters, abbeys, castles and cities, they all bear witness to the importance and prosperity of the region.
Saxony-Anhalt is blessed with an abundance of architectural monuments from the early part of Romanesque architecture and arts from this period. Some of them are well known, e.g. the “Stiftskirche” (collegiate church) in Quedlinburg, which towers over the old town with its 1200 half-timbered houses.
Others are more difficult to discover, such as the small village churches and red-brick buildings in the Altmark, the late Romanesque wall paintings in the church of St. Thomas in Petzien, or the gardens of the monastery in Drübeck.
The “Romanesque Road” offers a glimpse into medieval life and the magnificence of courtly and ecclesiastical life. The cathedral of St. Johannes and St. Laurentius, and the castle and chapter house in Merseburg are well-preserved buildings, and the Merseburg Incantations are among the oldest written examples of the German language.
One of the highlights in the newly restored chapter house is the legendary robe of Otto the Great. The Merseburg cathedral treasury, as well as the diocesan archives and library, are also located in the chapter house.
A copy of the famous “Merseburg Incantations” is also on display. The cathedral St. Peter und Paul zu Naumburg houses Romanesque works of art in the Naumburg cathedral treasury vault, one of the most enormous Romanesque vaults in central Germany.
The Cathedral St. Stephanus und St. Sixtus in Halberstadt houses the most extensive collection of medieval art remaining in German churches. The cathedral treasury’s extensive 300-piece textile collection is impressive, including Europe’s oldest preserved tapestry, the Abraham-Angel Tapestry. Precious reliquaries, altar furnishings and ivory carvings attest to the extraordinary skill of Islamic and Byzantine craftsmen.
The Collegiate Church of St.Servatius in Quedlinburg shows where German kingship began. Henry I, elected king of the East Frankish kingdom in 919 AD, made Quedlinburg the kingdom’s most crucial palatinate. The comb of Henry I is one of the cathedral treasury’s most beautiful pieces.
Made of ivory in the 7th-8th century, it comes from Syria. It may have been brought to the king before the coronation. An especially striking treasure in the collection is the world-renowned Samuel Gospel. The manuscript is from the 9th century.
The over 1000-year-old Church of St. Cyriacus in Gernrode is one of the oldest churches in Northern Europe. The monastery was built in the 10th century and is considered one of the most important monuments of German Romanesque architecture. It has an almost unchanged structure from Ottonian times. She holds the oldest crypt and a unique stucco room in the southern aisle, as well as the oldest replica of the tomb of Christ in Germany.
The St. Mauritius Dom in Magdeburg is a Gothic building, but with Romanesque roots. Otto I founded the church of St. Mauritius in 937 and elevated it to a cathedral in 968. Otto and his successors collected many treasures from antiquity and Byzantium.
The Romanesque cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1204 and rebuilt as a Gothic church, inaugurated in 1362. The Romanesque cloister of Our Lady and the Johannes Church are other highlights of Romanesque architecture.
(Text and further information: www.sachsen-anhalt-tourismus.de)