Erfurt is a beautiful little city. The architecture is a mix of Fachwerk (half-timbered) houses, Gothic, and Renaissance. There is a bridge in Erfurt called the Krämerbrücke. It would have been a prime location for business back in the Middle Ages. So merchants built their houses and shops on it. Today it still has 28 Fachwerk houses on it. It's not as big as the Ponto Vecchio in Florence, but it's very charming.
The goal of the trip was the Weihnachtsmarkt. Erfurt claims to have the tallest Christmas pyramid in the world. I don't know if that's true or not, but the Christmas market was certainly very nice. It has the traditional handcrafters' products like toys and ornaments, along with the hot spiced wine and roasted chestnuts that I have to get every year or it wouldn't be Christmas in Germany.
The Weihnachtsmarkt is at the base of a hill with two churches on it. One church is the cathedral, and the other is a parish church. In this photo you can see the stage on the left at the base of the steps where children's plays are performed by very energetic actors. While we were there the kids saw a performance of "The princess and the pea."
Inside the cathedral are reliquaries of saints Boniface (died 754), Kilian (died 689), and Elizabeth of Thuringen (died 1231).
Boniface is the patron saint of Germany. He converted the Franks and was the first Bishop of Mainz. According to the one source, in 723 Boniface had a tree cut down that was sacred to the local pagans. The tree was called Donar-Eiche (Thor's oak). Boniface called upon Thor to strike him down if Boniface cut down the holy tree. When Boniface started to chop the oak down, a strong wind suddenly blew the ancient oak over, as if by miracle. When Thor didn't strike Boniface down, the people were amazed and converted to Christianity.
Kilian is the patron saint of Franconia, and was martyred in Würzburg. He converted the Duke of Würzburg to Christianity, but when he told the Duke that he was in violation of sacred scripture by being married to his brother's widow, the Duke's wife became so angry that she had her soldiers sent to the main square of Würzburg, where Kilian and his colleagues were preaching, and had him beheaded. Today a glass case containing Kilian's scull is removed from a crypt, and paraded through the streets of Würzburg on St Kilian's day, before large crowds, and put on display in Würzburg Cathedral, which is dedicated to Kilian.
Elizabeth's story is one of my favorites. She was raised in the court of Ludwig IV of Thuringia in the Wartburg (just east of Erfurt), and was accustomed to privilege. But she was very charitable, and had a hospital built at the base of the Wartburg. She was also very pious, and spent hours in the confessional.
She was married at 14, but her husband, the Duke, died five years later on his way to the 6th crusade. Her husband's brother, Heinrich Raspe, became Duke. He did not approve of her charity and was suspicious of the amount of time she spent in confessional. Elizabeth would regularly sneak down the hill with bread for the poor. One day, Heinrich caught her on the way, and asked what she was hiding under her cloak. When Elizabeth showed him, the bread had turned to roses.
There is a tradition of flowers in Erfurt, too.
In the side of the hill that the cathedral is on, there is a catacomb. The underground vaults have been cleared, and artists decorate them at Christmas time with flowers. As we went down under ground, the hall was decorated with pine boughs and Christmas-Tree ornaments.
At the bottom was a long hall with 16 vaults along the sides.
The vaults were filled with decorations made from flowers.
There is more to see and do in Erfurt. We didn't have time to visit the Monastery where Martin Luther became a monk. Nor did we visit the Church where the mystic Meister Eckhart lived and worked between 1278 and 1311. Then there is the fortress that the Bishop built between 1664 and 1707 against the people of Erfurt. We'll definitely go back.
