street scenery on anger square in erfurt.
sometimes it is strange. you think you know a place from deep down in your heart, because it's been part of your youth for such a long time, but as soon as you move away, it becomes blurred & indistinct and you feel estranged from this place, only a mere visitor. this is what i felt about a small visit in erfurt back in february - the capital city of thuringia. i was raised in a small village around 25 kilometers away from erfurt, and erfurt was the big city in my yet small periphery back then. we often visited this city for all kinds of occassions, i spent the duration of my saleswoman apprenticeship wandering around its streets and getting to know it intimately. until i moved away to wiesbaden. the visits lessened and my focus was put onto different cities & regions of my homestate, because now i was always a tourist and i lost my citizenship - at least in my mind. whenever i returned to thuringia i would explore places i've never been to, and also enjoy my time at my parent's place with their beautiful garden - something i don't have here in wiesbaden. of course erfurt was on my visitation plate a few times, but never for an extended amount of time. on this particular trip to erfurt, though, we decided to spend more time than usual in the streets of the capital of thuringia. it turns out that my love for this city did not die out, it was reignited and will remain in the warmth of my heart.
while in my early teens i always though of erfurt as boring and dull, this changed in my late teens. i often had a lot of time to pass by before i needed to head to my apprenticeship job and those many hours were filled with long walks. i knew erfurt like the back of my hand in those three years, and it made me fall in love with it, where before i had always dumped it as bleak & unexciting. the old cobblestone streets of the medieval city were charming me endlessly, and the inner core of the historic center was so dreamy. i vividly tried to envision a life in this city, especially how i would rent out one of the cute medieval houses in the city center. and also how i would go to all kinds of cultural shenanigans and live my best life.
of course, nothing of those visions ever turned out to be reality, instead i went and built my life in a city 300 kilometers away from erfurt - wiesbaden. and i don't regret my decision to move here, not in the slightest. i love wiesbaden as a city, despite its faults ( and the missing medieval city core, lol ). the proximity to two more big cities, mainz & frankfurt is ideal for the cultural aspects i sometimes crave for, and the nearby taunus mountains & the rhine river give me my much needed peace of mind. i made friends, i have a job ( no matter how little quality it actually adds to my life ;P ), i experienced a lot of exciting things ( and also the same amount of shit shows ) - but all in all, i call this home and it will probably be always a home for me, even if i should consider to move somewhere else. some places just stay in your heart, no matter how briefly you got to know them. and erfurt is another home of mine, a puzzle piece to my past.
erfurt is the headquarter of the german kid's tv channel kika, therefore you can find a lot of sculptures from various kika shows all over the city. like 'die maus' and the blue elephant. they are part of a show that has the premise to educate children about the world, explaining adult concepts in a way that's easily digestable for kid's minds.
st. lorenz church - a roman-catholic church from the early 1240ies.
the schlösserstraße offers a wild mix of medieval & modern architecture.
into the direction of st. lorenz.
the gera river with its distributaries like the here depictured breitstrom meanders gently through the inner city of erfurt and with it the figurines of captain bluebear & his counterpart hein blöd. in the far back you can see the houses of the krämerbrücke - the merchant's bridge, one of the last bridges worldwide that is still covered with houses. it's one of the main tourist attractions in the city.
the houses on each side of the river are seriously the cutest and they have always made me wish i could live in one of them. it's so idyllic! and since they are mostly really tiny they would've been the perfect size for my lonely ass, haha.
you can find animal sculptures like the sheep one above in many german cities. i've found those sheep in wiesbaden, too, in different sizes and colours. they definitely bring a colourful & quirky blotch to our cities.
some of the little terraces attached to the breitstrom river houses. so unique! i really like the wooden sculpture as a detail, too!
this abandoned house is standing in this place as long as i can remember. it's never been torn down. it looks creepy, but it's really cool. i especially like the art on its facade. it's not as typically in your face as a lot of graffiti tend to be, but more subdued. the original building was erected in 1326, so it's actually of historical worth, but like it happens sometimes, it's been a victim to property arguments.
a close-up of the art on the facade. i am really in love with the torn down texture of the walls and the creepy faces on them. i recommend seeking this house out! it's worth it. i hope it's still around.
directly on the other side of the road you can find this nice modern portal in a medieval house. it's the entrance to übersee - a really popular little restaurant. the house is called 'haus zum roten horn' ( red horn house ). i don't know when it got built, but it's definitely medieval in its origins.
st. äegidien's church. the entrance onto the merchant's bridge. it's a so called bridge head church - and is one of formerly two churches on each side of the bridge. it's around since the 11th century, so fairly old, i dare say.
walking on the merchant's bridge. the merchant's bridge looks like a simple street, but as you can probably guess because of the name, it isn't a street at all. it's a bridge that's lined with the absolute most adorable houses you will ever see, some of them only a few meters in width. it's a one of a kind bridge, there are not many of these types left in europe. you can find all kinds of cute shops here, a lot of them selling very creative & unique goods.
usually this bridge is filled with tourists, but if you wait a little bit you can be lucky to take photos without anyone running into your picture ;)
the bridge was first built in 1325. it still amazes me that you can find such old structures standing strong today.
the timber-framed houses are serious eyecatchers. lovelovelove 🖤
the gate to handelskammer erfurt - the chamber of commerce.
the latin probably means: coming in or going out we are all but sojourners on the earth.
the guild house right next to the handelskammer gate. a true neo-renaissance beauty.
but the guildhouse isn't the only beautiful house on the fischmarkt ( fish square ). the house to the wide stove ( haus zum breiten herd ) on the left is another exceptional gem. it is older than the guild house, and unlike the guild house a REAL renaissance building from 1584.
this facade is utterly magnificent. it's a work of art, truly!
ALL THE DETAILS! sorry, this had to be in big caps.
some details of the guild house - with early art nouveau influences visible. the building was erected around 1882 to 1893.
the town hall of erfurt has some real cute cullis figurines attached to its roofs. the building itself is also quite worth seeing, but somehow i kind of forgot to take a picture of it ^^;
i can't connect this lovely beam ornament to any house anymore, but i still thought it was worth including.
a peak into an erfurt courtyard.
this house is situated not far away from the predigerkirche ( preacher's church ). a soft pink dream of a house, all baroqued up.
i really love the ornaments & the door situation.
once again, i missed out on taking a picture of the building, but the meister eckhart portal of the preacher's church is a real looker. it was designed & built by siegfried krepp in the year 1998. proof that contemporary design can definitely enhance super old structures. the church was built from 1266 to 1272, a nice gothic place of worship.
siegfried krepp, by the way, is really worth looking into, his work spans from painting, to sculpture, to drawings, to ceramics and is a wonderful example of GDR creativity.
the text on the door translates into: the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not capture it. ( from the gospel of john, chapter 1, line 5 )
just around the corner, this building gives off some serious bauhaus vibes. unfortunately there is not a hint of information to be found on the world wide web.
soon enough we were surprised with a snow storm and thus ended our little walk through erfurt. i shot this picture near neue mühle ( new mill ), another historic building on schlösserstraße ( around since the 13th century ). it's a technical museum these days.
the snow sky made way for a breathtaking sunset in the evening, when we were back home.
the view out from our backyard balcony. in my humble opinion, this balcony is the best place in my home village to view ANY sunsets from. it never disappoints!
Comments