Luther Trail: Section 24 – From Erfurt to Weimar

Important roots of Martin Luther’s theology and thus the Reformation can be found in Erfurt, a place that Luther once compared with a ‘pit of lard’ from which the entire state of Thuringia subsisted on. From 1501 to 1505, Luther studied at the University of Erfurt and achieved the degree of Magister Artium from the Faculty of Philosophy. To please his father, Luther then began studying Law. However on 2 July 1505, when he was travelling back from visiting his parents in Mansfeld, he was caught in a heavy storm. In fear of his life he called upon Saint Anna, the Virgin Mary’s mother saying: ‘Saint Anna, if you spare me I will become a monk’. Luther entered the Augustinian Monastery on 17 July 1505, and this marked the beginning of the most momentous changes in the history of the church.

The Luther Mile in Erfurt forms part of the Luther Trail. Use it to discover town and church history at various Luther and Reformation sites. Stations along the way include the Augustinian Monastery, Collegium Maius, St Michael’s Church and St Mary’s Cathedral.

On his way to Worms, Luther was received in Nohra, in what is now known as Kapellenplatz square, by 40 professors of the University of Erfurt as well as high-ranking townspeople and escorted to Erfurt itself. At the former chapel in Nohra, Luther is said to have spoken the following words: ‘The River Gramme rises in Nohre below the church’.

‘Weimar is the most noble of positions, the Prince Elector here is the most comfortable and can easily keep house…’ With these words, Luther described the small town on the banks of the River Ilm that in those days had just under 2000 inhabitants. In September 1518 he met his friend, the electoral Secret Secretary Georg Spalatin in Weimar. On 18 October 1522, Luther came to Weimar with other like-minded men to open up the reformatory debate. The next day he preached at the palace church.

The city palace today houses the Cranach gallery. Lucas Cranach the Elder died in Weimar in 1553; in his lifetime he painted numerous pictures and portraits of Martin Luther and his wife Katherina von Bora.

The interior of the late Gothic Church of St Peter and Paul (Herderkirche), where Luther preached, is dominated by the winged altar that was created by Lucas Cranach the Younger and Peter Roddelstedt in 1555. The monumental work depicts Martin Luther and Lucas Cranach the Elder, who has been splatted with the blood of Christ.

The Franciscan monastery, built in 1453, where Luther also preached, is today the home of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT.

A unique collection of bibles including the magnificent Luther Bible from 1534 can be seen in the Duchess Anna Amalia Library.