Limburg an der Lahn

The cathedral was consecrated in 1235 and stands on a rock directly above the river, a compact building carrying seven towers, built at the moment when Romanesque was giving way to Gothic and showing both. It was whitewashed in the nineteenth century; restoration in the 1970s returned it to the original polychrome scheme of orange, white and grey, which surprises people expecting bare stone. Below it the old town holds a dense group of timber-framed houses, including one on Römer dated by its timbers to around 1289, among the oldest free-standing timber houses in Germany. A medieval stone bridge crosses the Lahn.

History

Around 800 A.D. the first castle buildings rose on the Limburg rock, probably to guard a ford over the Lahn, and the town is first recorded in 910 as Lintpurc, when Louis the Child granted Konrad Kurzbold land to build a church, St George's, where Kurzbold was buried. A wooden bridge across the Lahn was built in 1150, bringing the road from Cologne to Frankfurt through the town, a mint is recorded in 1180, the castle took its present form in the early 13th century and the town received its rights in 1214; a line of the Lords of Ysenburg lived in the castle from 1258 to 1406. St George's Cathedral was consecrated in 1235 on the site of the old church, a great fire on 14 May 1289 destroyed much of the inner town, after which houses such as the Römer 2-4-6, one of Germany's oldest half-timbered houses, were built, and by 1420 the town belonged wholly to Trier (Wikipedia, Limburg an der Lahn).

Highlights

• The seven towers - a compact cathedral carrying seven spires on a rock.
• The painted exterior - orange, white and grey restored in the 1970s.
• The 1289 house - one of Germany's oldest free-standing timber buildings.
• The old bridge - a medieval stone crossing of the Lahn.

When to go

April to October; the cathedral closes during services. The old town is compact and quiet. The Lahn cycle path passes through the town.

Before you go

The painted exterior divides opinion. The cathedral interior is small. The modern town around the old centre is unremarkable.

Nearby

Wetzlar lies east; Koblenz is west on the Rhine.