Erfurt Day 2 ... not quite so wow

Day 45

All shops except bakeries and restaurants/cafés that service the tourist industry are closed on Sundays in Germany so we headed for tourist central Dom Platz for breakfast before heading up the nearby hill to explore the Citadel Petersberg. Having thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Citadel in Prague we were in good spirits.

We’d done some research last night and knew that it is one of the largest and best preserved town fortresses in Europe. Built on the site of a medieval Benedictine Monastery, the earliest parts of the complex date from the 12th century. The citadel was built on Petersberg hill, from 1665, when Erfurt was governed by the Electorate of Mainz. It is surrounded by over two kilometres of stone walls and is 36 hectares in size

Erfurt has been ruled by Sweden, Prussia, Napoleon, the German Empire, the Nazis, and post-World War II Soviet occupying forces, and it was part of the German Democratic Republic. All of these regimes used Petersberg Citadel and had an influence on its development. The baroque fortress was in military use until 1963

Peterskirche (St. Peters Church), which was part of the Benedictine Monastery of St Peter and Paul, after which the hill, and subsequently the citadel, was named. The first recorded evidence of the monastery is from 1060, but it may have existed a considerable time before that. The original building was burnt down in 1080, but was rebuilt from 1103 to 1147.

 

Dejected is the most appropriate word to describe St Peters Church

The bakery wasn't open but do check out the icicle on the drain thingy 3' above the sign (it was past noon)

Sadly we were really disappointed – the grounds are fantastic and the views are amazing but not a single building was open, there were no information panels at the various buildings and many were in a pretty bad state.  We spent an hour or so wandering round before giving up and looking for somewhere to get out of the biting wind.

Local authorities are arguing over what to do with the Garrison Building - such potential - military museum, function centres, high end hotel - the list is endless but it WILL be expensive now that the building has been let deteriorate to the current state.

We heard this very strange noise and then these two appeared through the gate

At the bottom of the citadel is the Andreasstrasse Memorial and Education Centre.  Originally we’d decided not to add yet another Stasi prison to our itinerary but since we’d not used up much time on the citadel, and it was inside we ventured in.  Andreasstrasse had been a regular prison with 3 floors of cells up till the early 1950’s when the Stasi commandeered the top two floors.  It was great – and the audio guide gave a very detailed tour and included recordings of former political prisoners.  It competed the timeline of prisons in the DDR following on perfectly from what we saw and learned n the Stasi Prison tour in Dresden since this one concentrated on the 60’s-80’s.

Prisoners got a shower once a week

Every small black dot represented an apartment where Stasi informants could go to hand in their 'information'  There were over 400 in Erfurt alone

Two cells on the bottom floor have been converted.

By now we were ready once again for one of our customary late lunches (as in 2.30pm) before we made a quick stop at the Augustinkloster complex where Martin Luther lived & studied 500 years ago. 

It was getting really cold (4pm it was -1) so we headed back to the flat for a nanna nap.  Tomorrow we’re off to Mainz and our long awaited catch-up with our dear friends Dagmar & Matthias.