Wartburg Castle

The second trip for the day was to Wartburg Castle.  Apparently one of the very few mideval castles that was not a fortress and under constant siege by enemies.  The main part of the castle was built in the 1200's with some modifications and extensions, but not a lot.  About half the buildings on the hill are relatively new (1800 and 1900s) and built to accommodate visitors, not royalty.  The landgrave who first built on the site picked it for its beautiful view of the valley.  Thankfully, the fog lifted today and we had a great view!

The oldest part of the structure is the large building in the center-right.  The newer one is on the left edge.

Magnificent view

Also one of the older structures.

Newer structure - was once the site of the kitchens, now holds a cafeteria

A real working draw bridge

I've remarked the whole trip that the temp is cold (35F), but at least there is not wind...on top of the castle hill, there was wind!  We huddled for warmth until our tour started.

The baths.  Located right next to a 30 ft deep cistern.

Lowest level - knights sleeping quarters -with a giant fireplace in the corner.

Looking up at the flue opening in the giant fireplace.

Landgrave's dining hall

Beautiful mosaic room that was originally for the duchess, but was not actually decorated this way during her occupancy.  The mosaic dates back to the early 1900s.

The images tell the story of St. Elizabeth, a widow of one of the landgraves who died in the crusades.  Elizabeth had the choice to remarry, or to go into a monastary. She chose the monastary, but died several years later.  She had been a very generous ruler, giving to the poor in many ways.  She was sainted very shortly after her death for the miracles attributed to her.

Ceiling

Chapel - there was not a full church on this site

The faint paintings on the arch of the 12 apostles dates back to 1270!

Performing space for madrigals

Great Hall

View into the garden

View of the valley

More recent bedchamber dating to 1800s

Martin Luther lived here while he was on the run from the Catholic church.  The ruling that made him an exile did not ever get posted to this region, but 5 miles from here he would have been in trouble.  He lived in the room below and began his translation of the latin bible into German.  He worked to produce a translation that was a combo of 18 different German dialects, and this effort helped merge these dialects into a more unified version used today.