Saxony-Anhalt

Major cities are:

• 🌍 Magdeburg, state capital on the river Elbe, huge early Gothic cathedral and one of Germany's most important Romanesque monasteries, most of the once glorious old town was however destroyed during World War II
• 🌍 Dessau, centre of the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, seat of the 1920s Bauhaus art school, capital of classical modern architecture

• 🌍 Halle, the state's most populous city, rich in history, interesting old town, birth place of George Frideric Handel (born Georg Friedrich Händel)

Minor cities and towns:

• 🌍 Blankenburg
• 🌍 Eisleben, birthplace of Martin Luther
• 🌍 Halberstadt
• 🌍 Lützen, site of a major battle during the Thirty Years War
• 🌍 Merseburg, more than thousand-year-old town with interesting old centre, Romanesque/Gothic cathedral and Renaissance palace
• 🌍 Naumburg, late-Romanesque cathedral with remarkable medieval sculptures, one of Germany's oldest boarding schools, home town of Friedrich Nietzsche, several romantic ruined castles in the vicinity
• 🌍 Osterwieck
• 🌍 Quedlinburg, remarkably well-preserved medieval old town
• 🌍 Stendal, capital of the Altmark region, well-preserved medieval old town
• 🌍 Stolberg
• 🌍 Thale
• 🌍 Wernigerode
• 🌍 Wittenberg, important city during the late Middle Age and Renaissance, origin of Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation
• 🌍 Zeitz

• 🌍 Schierke – "base camp" for visits of the Brocken, the state's highest mountain

The state of Saxony-Anhalt is quite young as a territory, but deeply rooted in history. It was created in 1945 by the merger of some former Prussian territories around Magdeburg in the northern and western parts, the former Duchy of Anhalt in the central part, and old Saxon territories, which came to Prussia as a result of the Vienna Congress in 1815, around Halle and Wittenberg in the eastern and southern parts. Therefore Saxony-Anhalt lacks a centralised structure (the capital Magdeburg not being the largest city) and many important sites are scattered around the state.

Saxony-Anhalt was a very early centre of settled civilization owing mostly to its very fertile loess soils as can be seen through archeological discoveries such as the neolithic Goseck circle (that probably served as an early solar observatory) and the Nebra sky disk, an astronomical masterpiece of the Bronze Age.

During the age of migrations, the Germanic inhabitants of the area went westward leaving space for Slavic settlers as evidenced by some place names. However, starting from Magdeburg, German colonisation of the East started in the Early and High Middle Ages. During that time impressive feats of architecture like the Romanesque cathedrals in Magdeburg, Naumburg, Merseburg and Halberstadt, the city of Quedlinburg, the castle of Querfurt and numerous monasteries were built in what was a centre of the Ottonian dynasty. Otto I, first holder of the title of (West) Roman emperor since the end of the Carolingian dynasty and widely considered by later generations as one of the first "German" rulers, was buried in Magdeburg.

Perhaps the most famous resident of what is now Saxony Anhalt was Martin Luther. A native of Eisleben, he studied law at first, but wound up in a monastery, and became embroiled in a theological dispute over the sale of indulgences on which Luther (by then a fairly well known professor of theology at the university in Wittenberg) famously published 95 theses written in Latin in 1517, which he may or may not have nailed to the door of the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg as well. Regardless, the conflict - with both sides making ample use of the printing press – ultimately got out of hand and what started as a minor theological debate ultimately split Christianity in twain (Protestant Reformation), with Saxony Anhalt a largely Lutheran area well into GDR times when state-mandated secularism took over. Regardless of religion, many people are proud of the reformatory heritage and both Eisleben and Wittenberg have officially added "Lutherstadt" (Luther city) to their long form names.

Starting from the era of reformation, Magdeburg became a proud city largely independent of any other power and could openly flaunt the emperor who wanted to impose both Catholicism and taxation upon the city. In the Thirty Years War the Catholic side brutally sacked the city in May 1631 and reduced the once proud city of 30,000 to barely a hamlet of a few hundred. Magdeburg never fully recovered and only reached similar population figures during industrialisation. The atrocities of the sack were so bad that even many contemporary Catholics were horrified and magdeburgisieren ("Magdeburg-ify") briefly entered the lexicon as a term for a particularly brutal siege and sack. In 1632, Lützen in southern Saxony-Anhalt was the site of a major battle. It was a pyrrhic victory for Sweden at the cost of thousands of soldiers killed in action and both the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the imperial general Pappenheim mortally wounded. After the war, the mayor of Magdeburg Otto von Guericke became a household name for his experiments with vacuums and the Magdeburg university today bears his name.

The ruling family of the Duchy of Anhalt, formerly an independent territory within Germany, did their share of networking to European monarchies. Roots of the Dutch kings are at Oranienbaum; a princess from Zerbst married to the Russian court and became the Russian tsarina Catharine the Great. Later the city of Dessau and its surroundings emerged as a major hotspot of European enlightenment under Prince Leopold III Frederick Franz, who created the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden realm. The area around Mansfeld has several hundred years of continuous history of mining of copper and other metals.

The region was in the geographic centre of the German Empire (before Germany lost its eastern territories and its centre of gravity shifted to the west). It was one of Germany's granaries and industrial power houses, especially regarding chemical industries. Major industrial inventions include the metal airplane by Hugo Junkers (1915) and the colour film at the Agfa-works in Wolfen (1932). Given Germany's lack of oil and gas, both Nazi and Communist leaders encouraged the synthesis of chemicals based on lignite, which was also East Germany's main source of energy. Some areas in the south of the state were therefore transformed into "moonscapes" by the shovels of giant strip-mining excavators digging for brown coal. These open-cast mines have been recultivated and converted into lakes and parks.

Saxony-Anhalt's population has experienced a massive decline as a result of the economic changes in East Germany since unification, leaving suburbs in many cities derelict. Handling shrinking cities is a challenge in urban planning. However, this particularly hits small cities and rural areas whereas major cities like Halle have bounced back from heavy losses in the early 1990s and now experience a minor growth in population again.

Generally, the state massively undersells its historic and touristic potential, which gives room for many discoveries of hidden treasures.

The language of communication is, not surprisingly, German. Though not as strong as in Saxony or in Bavaria, regional dialects do occur. When meeting visitors from outside their region, most people will make an effort to speak standard German.

As learning English was not compulsory in communist East Germany, do not expect people who went to school before 1990 to speak or understand English, whereas younger people should at least understand some basics. Russian, French, Spanish and other languages are also commonly taught as second foreign languages (after English) in high-schools though results vary dramatically. As Magdeburg and Halle (Saale) are university towns, you may have more luck with various foreign languages there, especially among young people. Your best bet after German would still be English in almost all instances and locals will usually try halting English once they notice you are not a German native speaker. Insist on German (politely but firmly) if you wish and they will usually oblige.

Saxony-Anhalt is Germany's state with the highest density of UNESCO World heritage sites:

• the medieval town of Quedlinburg. More than one thousand half-timbered houses.
• Naumburg Cathedral from the 13th century, at the passage from late-Romanesque to early-Gothic style. The twelve donor figures by the anonymous Naumburg Master are among the most well-made pieces of medieval sculpture.
• the Luther sites at Wittenberg and Eisleben. Protestant reformer Martin Luther was born and died in Eisleben, where his birthplace and death house stand. At the university town of Wittenberg, Luther spent most of his time and (supposedly) nailed his 95 theses at the door of the castle church.
• the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm. Created in the second half of the 18th century, it consists of several landscaped parks.
• the Bauhaus sites at Dessau (and Weimar) from the 1920s, pioneers of classical modern architecture that later became the "International Style" of the 20th century. Dessau has the Bauhaus building, the masters’ houses and several other Bauhaus buildings.

Other sights include:

• medieval cathredrals at Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Quedlinburg, Merseburg; well preserved castles at Falkenstein, Querfurt.
• Europe-Rosarium at Sangerhausen, world’s largest collection of roses.
• The Harz mountains with the highest mountain of northern Germany, the 1141-m Brocken, the Bode canyon and the Rappbode reservoir with the highest dam in Germany.
• the Elbe floodplains, Unesco biosphere reserve.
• two of the northernmost vine-growing areas in Germany around Naumburg and the Süsser See near Halle.
• industrial history like the Röhrigschacht mine near Sangerhausen (mine allowing access down 200 m), the film museum at Wolfen, birth place of the colour film, or the city of iron, Ferropolis near Gräfenhainichen.

• cycle along the Elbe.
• cruise the Romanesque Road, a holiday route, which connects more than 80 places of romanesque origin (churches, monasteries, castles), including world class buildings like the Magdeburg or Naumburg cathedrals, but also hardly known village churches.
• ride the narrow-gauge steam trains from Wernigerode up the Brocken or in the Selketal.
• attend one of the numerous music festivals of classical (Handel festival in Halle in June, Johann Sebastian Bach festival in Köthen, Kurt Weill festival in Dessau in February) or modern music (Melt! festival in Ferropolis in July)

At the banks of the Saale and Unstrut near Naumburg and Freyburg there are some of the northernmost wine-producing areas in Germany. As for the continental climate with rainfall under and sunshine above the German average and a tendency to poor soils on carbonate rocks, wines tend to become quite intense in taste and alcohol-rich. Rotkäppchen, a producer of budget (yet drinkable) champagne and one of the best known brands of East Germany, has its cellars in this region. Mostly white vines are growing. Outside that area Saxony-Anhalt is mostly beer drinking territory with a large brewery (Hasseröder) near Wernigerode and some smaller ones scattered around.

There is plenty of accommodation across the whole range from hostels to top-class hotels. There might be some busier times regionally, but in general there are enough hotel beds to meet the demand. Reservations are only necessary, if you want a specific hotel on a specific date.Price level is moderate, from around €30 per person per night in standard accommodations to €80/100 per person per night in top-class hotels.

As special hotels there are to mention a hotel on top of the Brocken (highest mountain), a hostel in the original Bauhaus-building in Dessau, All across the region you will find hotels in former manor houses or castles like Meisdorf House, Schloss Altenhausen, Schloss Storkau or Wasserburg Westerburg.

Saxony Anhalt is more or less Centrally located and thus hops across the state line take you almost anywhere in Germany

• Thuringia , here your Sachsen-Anhalt-Ticket is valid as well for all regional trains
• Saxony historically both Länder share a lot of common heritage, and big chunks of Saxony-Anhalt were once part of Saxony, before the kings and electors lost one too many wars (they had a propensity for almost always choosing the wrong side). Halle-Leipzig in particular serve as one big metropolis with two cores in some ways, even sharing an airport in Schkeuditz.
• Lower Saxony, the most natural next step if you are interested in medieval history (and not yet tired of castles, cathedrals, monasteries and half-timbered houses)