Page 149 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Germany

EASTERN GERM AN Y  147

SAXONY-ANHALT

The scenic Harz mountains, a popular recreation area with
fascinating rock formations and pleasant walks, are the
best known attraction of Saxony-Anhalt. Yet this state also
boasts a number of interesting towns, such as Lutherstadt
Wittenberg and Magdeburg, steeped in history and
blessed with magnificent historic remains, which range
from Romanesque churches and abbeys to medieval castles.
This province consists of the areas of theses in 1517, thus launching the
the former Duchy of Anhalt and the Reformation, and Dessau, the former
Prussian province of Saxony, that part capital of the Duchy of Anhalt and
of the Kingdom of Saxony which from 1925 to 1932 the seat of the
was incorporated into Prussia after Bauhaus Art School. The southern
the Congress of Vienna (1815) as part of the province, with its interesting
punishment for supporting Napoleon. and varied landscape, features
The landscape in this region is highly one of the land’s most impressive
varied. Its northern part, the Altmark, is historic buildings – the gigantic
a largely flat area of farmland and heath. Naumburg Cathedral.
The gentle hills of the Harz Mountains in After World War II Saxony-Anhalt
the southwest, although not especially was occupied by the Soviets, and in
high (their highest peak, the Brocken, 1949 it was incorporated into the
rises to only 1142 m/3747 ft), are GDR. It underwent major industrial
picturesque and fairly well provided development, mainly due to lignite
with tourist facilities. The eastern, flat mining. The state of Saxony-Anhalt
part of the region is more industrialized. was first created in 1947, only to be
It also includes two very important abolished five years later. It was finally
towns: the small town of Wittenberg, re-established as a federal state in
where Martin Luther proclaimed his 1990, with Magdeburg as its capital.

Timber-frame houses in Quedlinburg
Interior of the Schloßkirche in Lutherstadt Wittenberg

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