Buy your stamps here and other Erfurt, Germany Things to Do Tips

The main post office of Erfurt is in the centre of the town, in the walking area.It's the most magnificent post office I have ever seen. I don't know what this building used to be, maybe some VT members living in Erfurt can tell me.

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Address: on the Anger, in the centre of the town

This is a large house, standing on the Anger, the square in the centre of Erfurt. Its German name is "Haus zur grünen Aue und zum Kardinal". I don't know where this name comes from. About two hundred years ago a famous guest was sleeping there, Russian Tzar Alexander. Today it's a café and an ice-cream parlour.I must admit, when I saw the two statues on the roof, my first thought was one of them was eating ice cream. It was a very hot day in July and everybody was eating ice cream, so it just seemed possible to me. But of course, it's a torch she's holding, not an ice cream cone.

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Address: on the Anger, in the centre of the town

There are many cafés and bistros in the old part of Erfurt,on bridges or near bridges, where you can sit and enjoy the pretty flowers on the water. The gardeners have planted flowers in pots looking like boats, so when there is enough water, it looks like they are swimming. Unfortunately, when we were there, it hadn't rained for some time, so the water wasn't high enough and you could see how the flowerboats were fastened. But it still was a very pretty sight.

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Inside the cathedral in Erfurt you see a candleholder which looks like a man. It's mansize and he is holding up his arms with a large candle in each of them. This is Wolfram. He was a man in 12th century who must have been some kind of criminal. The citizens of Erfurt were very angry with him and sentenced him to stand in front of the cathedral, holding two heavy candles in his arms. By this they wanted to make sure he'd "see the light". You can imagine how heavy the candles must have been and how difficult and painful this must have been for him. After a few Sundays the citizens took pity on him and allowed him to have a candleholder made which looked like him. He had it done in bronze and it's said to have been first free-standing
bronze statue in Germany.

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Address: Inside the cathedral

In the corner in the cathedral there is a sort of a column, a pillar, reaching up to the ceiling. This is the baptistery. It is supposed to show the connection between the earth and heaven. A few steps from the floor take you up to the actual font, then a long pillar "grows" up towards the ceiling where it ends in a painting of a cloud. This is supposed to be the place where God is. The whole baptisterey is 18 meters high and was built in 16th century. It is certainly a very impressive place to be baptised.

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Address: The Cathedral of Erfurt, Domplatz

I was really impressed by the beautiful carvings of the choir seats in the cathedral. They were carved in the 14th century, with lots of attention to the detail. The men you see on the picture aren't smoking, but playing the flute.
I think these seats are beautiful to look at, but probably not very comfortable to sit in. But then, in 14th century, you were supposed to sit upright when in church and pay attention all the time.

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Again, I like to look for the smaller details. To me, there are more interesting than the huge cathedral as such. On the main door to the cathedral you see a doorknocker in the shape of a lion.You can see this more often, but this one here happens to be eating a man. I don't know if there is some medieval significance to it or if the artist simply liked to add this detail for some extra thrill.

Update March 2008:
I learned from a priest at the cathedral that there are two possible explanations:

1. It says in the bible - 1 Peter,5,8 - that the devil is like a lion, trying to devour mankind. So if a lion eating a man is part of the door knocker, the medieval artists were trying to say."If you don't want to be eaten by a lion = devil, enter this church here.

2. If the lion's mane is shaped like the sun, then it's not just a lion but a symbol for the sun = light = God. Especially when the lion is sculptured so much bigger than the man he's eating, this was supposed to tell the people how much bigger God is than mankind.

So again, as with many symbolic sculptures, several possible and sometime contradictory explanations.

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Address: On the door of the cathedral

One of the goods which had made Erfurt rich and famous as a trading town was the dyer's-weed woad.
It grew in the woods around the town, was collected, ground,dried and formed into small balls. These balls had to be in barrels for several months, covered with urine ! to give them a nice, blue colour.So instead of going to the toilet people there went to the barrels. Some hotel owners even made money by selling the contents of their chamberpots.During my last visit in Erfurt I learned that it had to be male urine. Female urine didn't work.
How does anybody find out about this?? I mean, you see a green plant . How does anybody get the idea that these green leaves will make a nice, blue colour when , well, you know what I mean. I guess, I'd never make a good inventor.
These barrels were kept in the attics and it must have been a VERY smelly affair. This is why these attics had a lot of windows, certainly a lot more than any normal house.
Today this house is a theatre. It has been thouroughly aired.

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Address: Grosse Arche

Above Erfurt there is a citadel, called Petersberg. It used to be a monastery first and was later transformed into barracks for soldiers.It's huge and you have a great view over the cathedral and Erfurt.There are many underground passages, very narrow, which had been used as escape routes in case of a siege. Erfurt Tourist Information offers guided walks into these passages, the only light coming from torches. I mean the ones with real fire, not a flashlight.We did this walk and really enjoyed it.Not everybody gets to carry a torch, but there is enough light to see. You have to walk in a single file as it's so narrow. Sometimes you can look up and see escape chimneys, even narrower. I felt a lot of pity for the poor soldiers who had to climb out there, wearing their heavy armour, not knowing what would await them once they're out there.

Today the tunnels are safe, provided people are careful with their torches. You may encounter a few bats and mice and the occasional spider, but apart from this it's quite safe.
It's a great walk for kids! There were several in our group and they all loved it. Of course they all wanted to carry a torch.

For those of you who have watched the movie The Lord of the Rings: Sometimes we felt we're right in the middle of it.

This walk costs 6,50 Euro per adult, 3,50 for kids/students. It's absolutely worth it.
Make sure you wear good shoes and bring a jacket. And you shouldn't be too claustrophobic.
We were able to get tickets one hour prior to the walk, but we were told it's safer to book ahead.

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Address: Meet at the tourist information

The citadel is not only interesting in its underground passages, but also from the outside. You can walk around and enjoy the view. There are canons standing around and you can still see the many look-outs. The citadel was never conquered.
The draw bridge has been turned into a cobble stoned street now, but you can still see the main gate with the spiked fence coming out of the ceiling. Next to the drawbridge there is a small door. This was used for latecomers, so that they soldiers didn't have to let the bridge down for just one person. When you look up inside the main gate, you can see holes in the ceiling. From there unwelcome people were covered with hot water. Not a very friendly way to get rid of unwelcome guests.

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Address: Above the cathedral square