Weimar, Leipzig & the Bauhaus Movement

Day 1 – Lutherstadt Wittenberg

Scheduled flight to Germany from your preferred airport – transfer with our tour manager and private executive coach to Lutherstadt Wittenberg for time at leisure to explore the capital of the Reformation whose sights include the Castle and the Schlosskirche, made famous by Martin Luther who allegedly posted his theses on its door in 1517 – continue to the 4* Westin Hotel in Leipzig – dinner in the hotel.

Day 2 – Guided tour of Leipzig & Museum der Bildenden Künste

A guided tour of Leipzig takes in sights such as the Opera House and the Church of St Nicholas – a guided tour of the Museum der Bildenden Künste in Leipzig introduces a fine collection of paintings by German masters including Lucas Cranach, Elder, Martin Schongauer and Caspar David Friedrich.

Day 3 – Bauhaus Dessau & Wörlitzer Park

In Dessau, once the capital of the duchy of Anhalt-Dessau, we enjoy a guided tour at the Bauhaus Dessau complex, built in 1925 to a design by Walter Gropius and the home of the famous art school that moved here from Weimar – Wörlitzer Park, an English style landscaped garden that was the first of its kind in continental Europe, was laid out between 1765 and 1817 and was inspired by Prince Franz Anhalt-Dessau’s visit to Claremont, Stourhead and Stowe.

Day 4 – Guided tour of Weimar, Goethe House & Goethes Gartenhaus

A guided tour of Weimar introduces us to a town associated with classical poets such as Goethe and Schiller, the musicians Bach and Liszt and the Bauhaus pioneers van de Velde and Gropius – during our tour we visit Goethe House, the house that was home to the poet from 1782 to 1789 as a tenant and then from 1792 to 1832 as the owner, and Goethes Gartenhaus, the small villa that was his first home in Weimar and later his summer house – check in to the 4* Leonardo Hotel in Weimar – dinner in the hotel.

Day 5 – Eisenach & Wartburg Castle

Morning at leisure in Eisenach – the UNESCO listed Wartburg Castle, built according to legend by Ludwig dem Springer in 1067, was home to St Elisabeth, where Martin Luther translated the New Testament and where Richard Wagner was inspired to write his opera ‘Tannhäuser’.

Day 6 – Guided tour of Erfurt

A guided walking tour of the old quarter of Erfurt, Martin Luther’s spiritual home, takes in the Merchant’s Bridge, the Town Hall, the university where Luther studied the ‘seven liberal arts’ between 1501 and 1505, the late Gothic Cathedral of St Mary, whose central Tower is home to the ‘Gloriosa’, the world’s largest medieval free swinging bell, and the Old Synagogue, constructed during the Middle Ages on the ‘Via Regia’, one of the major European trade routes – afternoon at leisure in Erfurt and you may choose to explore Petersburg Citadel, the only extensively preserved Baroque town fortress in central Europe, or the Augustinerkloster, an early Gothic church built for Augustinian monks at the end of the 13th century.

Day 7 – Bauhaus Museum

Visit the Bauhaus Museum in Weimar, offering an insight into the development of the State Bauhaus art school – transfer to the airport for our scheduled flight home.