Zscheiplitz/Halle
During the corona pandemic, many people discovered hiking for themselves. This has also increased the enthusiasm for pilgrimages in Saxony-Anhalt. The Luther Trail is now being extended by 80 kilometers.
Those who make a pilgrimage also need paths: the Luther Trail is now being extended by 80 kilometers from Eisleben to Naumburg.
The festive opening is planned for May 24 in the monastery church of Zscheiplitz in the Burgenland district, says the project manager of the Luther Trail in Saxony-Anhalt, Carolin Titscher-Rehhahn. “The route has thus been extended from the current 450 kilometers to 530 kilometers.” The pilgrimage route has existed since 2008, it was the first of the Luther Trails in Germany. There are now Luther Trails in seven federal states.
“Demand has increased enormously in the last two or three years, and there is a clear trend towards nature,” says Titscher-Rehhahn. “Especially during the corona pandemic, there was enormous encouragement. Individual hiking was one of the few ways to get moving.”
Stop at Luther’s places of work
The Luther Trail in Saxony-Anhalt includes 59 stations. In addition to the places where Luther personally worked, there are also museums and castles on the path marked with an “L”. Martin Luther (1483-1546) spent his childhood in Mansfeld (Mansfeld-Südharz district).
You can see his family’s house and a museum. The house where he was born is in Eisleben. Luther also died in Eisleben. The reformer’s place of work was Wittenberg. According to tradition, Luther nailed his 95 theses against the sale of indulgences to the Castle Church on October 31, 1517 – the beginning of the worldwide Reformation of the Church.
Anyone who would like to make a pilgrimage on the Way of St. James can do so in Saxony-Anhalt. The 370-kilometer route is divided into 32 sections. “We are taking the 1050th anniversary of the death of Emperor Otto the Great as an opportunity to make a pilgrimage of around 275 kilometers from Memleben to Magdeburg,” says the President of the St. James Society of Saxony-Anhalt and Pastor Sebastian Bartsch.
“On May 8th at 8.45 a.m. it starts in the crypt in Memleben, arrival is on May 13th in Magdeburg Cathedral”. The action commemorates the transfer of the body of Otto I from the place where he died in Memleben to Magdeburg, where he was buried in the cathedral.
Unlimited daily pilgrims welcome
“Twelve pilgrims are there all the way,” says Bartsch. Every day it starts at 8.45 a.m. at the respective location, the pilgrimage lasts until 6.00 p.m. Daily pilgrims are always welcome in unlimited numbers. “There are currently around 60 pensions on the Way of St. James, before Corona there were around 90 pensions,” says the President.
“In addition to the current campaign, the Jakobusgesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt offers the Saturday day pilgrimage every fourth Saturday of the month.” In general, there are currently a lot of requests for pilgrim ID cards. “We have enough pilgrim ID cards,” says Bartsch.
The Way of St. James is actually a multitude of pilgrimage routes that stretch like a network through Europe and also all of Germany. They all have the tomb of the Apostle James in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, as their destination. The best known is the route from the Pyrenees in France via northern Spain.
The trail was first mentioned in 1047. In July 2005, Saxony-Anhalt was connected to the network of the European pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Churches, monasteries, cathedrals and chapels are located along the path, which is signposted with a stylized shell.
