King Henry I.

King Henry II.

The magic spells

Though the first documentary reference, in the Hersfelder Zehntverzeichnis, a record of tithes, dates to between 830 and 850 AD, there are traces of a much earlier settlement. The German king Henry I. made the town the seat of a royal residence, building new fortifications south of the present Altenburg and erecting massive stones walls around the castle mound. In 968 Merseburg was made a bishopric. Henry´s son Otto I. left the royal palace to Bishop Boso, which did not however prevent the Holy Roman Emperors holding court in Merseburg right down to the 13th century.

The work of erecting the cathedral, adjacent to the palace, was carried out between 1015 and 1021, under Henry II., though the building was subsequently altered in late Romanesque hall crypt is considered exemplary for the architecture of its period. The cathedral is exceptionally richly furnished: suffice it to mention the carved-wood baroque high altar, the world-famous Ladegast organ and the bronze grave slab of Rudolph of Swabia. An extensive collection of medieval manuscripts is to be found in the cathedral archives, including notably the Merseburg Spells, which are considered the only exemplar of Old Saxon literature of heathen origin still extant.

In the early Middle Ages Merseburg was a major trading centre; after a number of fires in the town, however, the merchants moved to Leipzig. The castle was extended under Bishop Thilo of Trotha (1466 - 1514) and underwent a general renovation in the 17th century. The Dukes of Saxony-Merseburg resided here from 1656 to 1738. Thereafter the city came under the administration of the Elector of Saxony again until becoming capital of the Prussian province of Saxony after 1815.

A large raven´s cage made of stone stands in the front courtyard of the castle. The story has it that Bishop Thilo of Trotha suspected his valet of having stolen his gold ring and had him executed. Years later the cathedral roof was torn away in a storm and there was found a raven´s nest with the missing ring in it. Vowing never again to rush angrily to judgement, he had the stone cage built, which has ever since held a captive raven. The bird was also included in the Bishop´s arms, holding a ring in its beak.

The cathedral and castle are used amongst other things today for a great variety of cultural events.

The life of the city is enriched by the Merseburg Organ Festival and the Castle Festival, which also draw artists from the towns with which Merseburg is twinned: Bottrop in western Germany, Chatillon in France and Genzano di Roma in Italy.

Also not to be missed by the visitor in search of repose are the castle garden with its Schlossgartensalon and, adjacent to them, the Ständehaus, built to house the Parliament of the Prussian province. The garden moreover offers a magnificent view of the river Saale with its weir.

The Obere Wasserkunst, a baroque fountain house in Oberaltenburg, is situated to the north of the garden. It was created in 1738 by Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt, the most eminent member of a local dynasty of artists.

Not far away are the remains of the monastery of St. Peter´s and the Altenburg church of St. Vitus with its baroque decoration.

Merseburg has much to offer the visitor intersted in historic architecture. Opposite the castle and cathedral, on the other side of the river, stands the Romanesque Neumarktkirche dedicated to St. Thomas and built around 1180 with its remarkable entrance portals. The knotted pillar which graces the main doorway is unique in Central Germany. The church fabric was unfortunately neglected in the last few deacades but has now been comprehensively restored. The Neumarktkirche is, along with the Cathedral, one of the buildings constituting the route which leads the discerning tourist to the Romanesque treasures to be found all over Saxony-Anhalt.

A short walk from the Cathedral sqare passing through the Krummes Tor. a lopsided gate, brings you back into the town centre.

The Altes Rathaus (old town hall), the core of which is late Gothic, was encased in the bourgeois High Renaissance style by Nickel Hoffman from Halle. Opposite rises the aisled late-gothic hall church of St. Maximus (1432 - 1501), the interior of which contains panel paintings of the Cranach school as well as the remains of a baroque altarpiece, among other things.

To the south of the city centre are the ruins of St. Sixtus: the tower, rebuilt in 1888-89 is destined to house a museum. The building, whose foundations were laid in 1045, has been a ruin ever since the Thirty Years´ War in the 17th Century. Closeby is the municipal graveyard, several times extended, with its fine baroque tombs sculpted by the Hoppenhaupts.

The industrialisation of Merseburg, which grew into a major centre of the chemical industry as a result of the foundation nearby of the Leuna and Buna works, was due to the opening up the lignite(brown coal) deposits in the neighbouring Geiseltal.

Heavily bombed by the British and Americans in the Second World War, the old city centre continued to suffer during the following decades. With a full-scale restoration scheme Merseburg is now future in which its heritage is fully intended to take pride of place.

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