Written records of Wittenberg date back to the twelfth century. At that time there was only one castle ward on the site of today's city. Wittenberg received city rights in 1293 under the Ascanian Duke Albrecht II. At the end of the 15th century, Elector Friedrich III, better known as Frederick “the Wise”, decided to make Wittenberg his residential city. From 1489, Friedrich had the castle and the associated castle church built and in 1502 he founded the first princely university in Germany in direct competition with Leipzig. The newly founded University “Leucorea” soon attracted those scholars to Wittenberg who would write world history there just a few years later. This also applies to the monk Martin Luther, who came to Wittenberg in 1508 and laid the foundation for the reformation of the church with the posting of his 95 theses against the sale of indulgences on October 31, 1517. Just a few months after Luther's death in February 1546, the “Schmalkaldic War” (1546/47) broke out, in which the Protestant princes and imperial cities united in the “Schmalkaldic League” faced the forces of Emperor Charles V. As a result of the war, Frederick the Wise's nephew, Johann Friedrich I, lost his electoral status and also parts of his lands, so that Wittenberg was no longer a residential town in Saxony from 1547 onwards.
The city suffered significant losses in the “Seven Years’ War”. Large parts of the city, the castle and the castle church were destroyed in 1760. Including the original wooden thesis door. After extensive restoration work, the castle church was used again as a university church from 1770. But just a few decades later, the city's buildings were again severely damaged during the French siege (1813/1814). In 1815, Wittenberg finally fell to Prussia as a result of the Congress of Vienna. In 1817, teaching at Leucorea was stopped and relocated to Halle. The city's softening began in 1873. In 1883 the “Lutherhalle” was opened, which today houses the largest Reformation history museum in the world. Between 1885 and 1892 the castle church was extensively redesigned to its current appearance. “Lutherstadt” became an official part of Wittenberg’s name in 1938.
After German reunification, the renovation/restoration of the historic buildings in the old town center that had been neglected during the GDR era gradually began in the early 1990s. The Luther memorial sites (Castle Church, Luther House, Melanchthon House) were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1996. [1]
Checked historical dates: The municipal timeline gives 1186 for the first written mention; the municipal land-use plan, p. 35, says “around 1180”. The text therefore gives only the twelfth century. The timeline dates the official name “Lutherstadt” to 1938. The diploma thesis cited below (2008, pp. 59-60) is the source named by the original text; its full text was not available for this review.
SOURCE 2008
- [1] Cora Prünsten, August 13, 2008, diploma thesis HS Harz, selected aspects of spiritual tourism using the example of Lutherstadt Wittenberg, spiritual tourism in Lutherstadt Wittenberg pp. 59 to 60