Wetzlar

Goethe came to Wetzlar in 1772 as a young legal trainee, met Charlotte Buff, who was engaged to another man, and drew on the episode and on the suicide of an acquaintance for The Sorrows of Young Werther in 1774; the Lottehaus is a museum. The cathedral shows two building campaigns abandoned at different points, with a Romanesque west front standing incomplete beside a Gothic one, an unfinished state kept for centuries. From 1869 the optical works founded by Carl Kellner grew into Ernst Leitz, where Oskar Barnack built the first practical 35mm camera around 1914, the prototype that became the Leica.

Background

Wetzlar straddles the Lahn 51 kilometres north of Frankfurt and lies on the German Timber-Frame Road. Counting 55,371 residents at the start of 2019, it ranks as the twelfth largest city in Hesse. A former free imperial city, it was best known as the seat of the Reichskammergericht, the Imperial Supreme Court of the Holy Roman Empire. Work on the sandstone cathedral of St. Mary began in the 12th century in Romanesque style and went on under a Gothic master plan, and the church is shared by Catholics and Protestants. The old town is known for the Eisenmarkt and its steep, tightly packed streets. The Stoppelberg, at 401 m, is the highest point within town limits.

Source: Wikipedia, "Wetzlar"

The main sights

• The unfinished cathedral - two abandoned building campaigns side by side.
• The Lottehaus - the house of Goethe's Charlotte, now a museum.
• The Leica origin - the optical works where 35mm photography began.
• The Lahn old town - timber-framed lanes above the river.

When to go

April to October; museums close Mondays. The Leitz Park optics campus on the edge of town includes a photography museum and factory tours by arrangement.

Things to know

The optics museum and Leitz Park are separate from the old town and need transport. Factory tours are limited. The town is small.

Nearby

Marburg lies north; Limburg is west down the Lahn.

Key facts