Magdeburg · DE
Magdeburg Highlights: Ottonian Elbe City
Gothic cathedral, imperial tombs and Hundertwasser gold on the banks of the Elbe.
What's the walk about?
Welcome to Magdeburg, the thousand-year-old city on the Elbe where Emperor Otto the Great built his power and chose his final resting place. This walk through the capital of Saxony-Anhalt threads together the essential sights of an Ottonian and Gothic heritage that shaped the medieval empire. You will stand beneath Germany's first Gothic cathedral, trace the river that made the city a trading crossroads, and meet a splash of modern colour in Hundertwasser's playful, golden-domed Green Citadel. From the proud golden Rider of the Alter Markt to the imperial tombs of the Dom, from a serene Romanesque monastery to the leafy Fürstenwall promenade above the water, this is Magdeburg at its most rewarding. Lace up, follow the Elbe, and let the old town tell its story.
What you'll see
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1
The Magdeburg Rider (Magdeburger Reiter)
Monument
A gleaming golden horseman presiding over the Alter Markt, this is a copy of Europe's oldest free standing equestrian statue, carved around 1240 and thought to portray Emperor Otto the Great.
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2
Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus)
landmark
Magdeburg's dignified Baroque town hall presides over the Alter Markt, its warm facade rising above the square where citizens have governed themselves for nearly eight centuries.
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3
St John's Church (Johanniskirche)
church
Magdeburg's oldest parish church, where Martin Luther once preached the Reformation into being, its twin towers a stubborn survivor of a thousand years of fire and war.
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4
Monastery of Our Lady (Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen)
Monastery
The oldest surviving building in Magdeburg, a serene Romanesque monastery whose stone cloisters and slender twin towers have watched over the Elbe city for nearly a thousand years. Today its vaulted halls hold one of the finest contemporary art collections in eastern Germany.
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5
Green Citadel (Grüne Zitadelle)
Landmark
A riot of rose pink walls, tilting windows and golden towers, the Green Citadel is Friedensreich Hundertwasser's final architectural fantasy. Trees grow out of its windows and grass carpets its rooftops in the very heart of Magdeburg.
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6
Magdeburg Cathedral (Magdeburger Dom)
cathedral
Rising above the Elbe with twin towers of weathered sandstone, Magdeburg Cathedral is the oldest Gothic church in all of Germany. Beneath its soaring vaults rests Otto the Great, the first Holy Roman Emperor, who chose this city as his beloved home.
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7
Fürstenwall Promenade
promenade
A leafy, linden-lined walkway raised high above the Elbe, widely celebrated as the first public promenade in Germany. Medieval defensive towers still stand guard along its edge, gazing out over the river.
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8
Elbe Riverfront & Domfelsen
viewpoint
A long spine of ancient sandstone lurking in the Elbe below the cathedral, revealed only when the river runs low. This is the Domfelsen, the rock that gave Magdeburg both its firm footing and its very reason to exist.
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9
Hegelstraße Boulevard
street
Magdeburg's most beautiful surviving boulevard, a proud parade of ornate Gründerzeit townhouses whose stucco garlands and carved balconies escaped the firestorm that erased almost the entire old town.
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