Wittenberg

Today was spent touring the city of Wittenberg, also known as Lutherstadt. It's a lovely little city with all the sites we saw within walking distance of the Colleg Wittenberg where we're staying.

Stadtkirche St. Marien (Town Church of St. Mary) in the background

The Town Church is considered the mother-church of the Protestant Reformation. It was the first church in which the service was celebrated in German rather than Latin and the first in which the bread and wine was distributed to the congregation. Luther preached his famous Lectern sermons here in 1522, and married ex-nun Katharina von Bora here three years later.

The Town Church organ

Side chapel next to the Town Church

The Schlosskirche (Castle Church), where Luther posted his 95 theses on the church door (or more likely one of his assistants/colleagues did it for him; the church door was simply the modern equivalent of the local bulletin board). The church is undergoing major refurbishing in time for the 500th anniversary in 2017. We will be singing at this church on June 15.

The famous Wittenberg door. The original was destroyed by fire in 1760 and replaced in 1858 with a bronze version inscribed with the theses in Latin.

The Lutherhaus and Reformation Museum. The building was initially an Augustinian monastery where Martin Luther was a monk. The monastery was dissolved at the outset of the Reformation, with part of it being made into a residence hall for students and the rest given to Luther as a family home.

The Lutherhaus Katharinenportal (Katharina's Door), which was a birthday gift from Luther's wife in 1540

Luther's table, at which he shared a series of informal conversations with his students and colleagues on topics ranging from religious doctrine and history to instructions regarding government, church, and the academic university. The discussions were compiled in the book Table Talk, initially entitled Divine Discourses.

Luther's 1534 Bible, the first German language Bible translated from Hebrew and ancient Greek

An authentic indulgence chest

 

 

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