"A Lesson In Architecture" a Görlitz Travel Page by german_eagle

Görlitz is a still widely unknown jewel. The city looks back on a history of almost 1000 years.

The city centre is a picture book of architecture from medieval to modern times. The oldest houses were built in Gothic style, but you find numerous examples of Renaissance and Baroque architecture as well. In addition Görlitz owns one of the largest "Gründerzeit" quarters of Germany. Excellent samples of Jugendstil decorated houses mix up with Historism (Neorenaissance etc.) style buildings.

The best thing is Görlitz was not destroyed in WWII. All these wonderful houses, however, were in bad condition when the wall came down. Soon the administration recognised the importance of this unique architectural ensemble and provided great help (both money and know-how) for restoration.

The process of restoration is not finished yet. But from the pictures you can see that a huge part of the work is already done.

Besides the magnificent architecture you should not miss the beautiful countryside and other sights in the surrounding.

Görlitz itself provides nice gardens for recreation, and the Upper Lausitz hills and the Zittau mountains are not far away.

The quaint villages with their "Umgebindehäuser" (a sort of half-timbered houses) in the surrounding are always worth a visit.