A DAY IN MARBURG - JULY 2, 2005

I don’t often accompany Frank on his business trips. I don’t enjoy exploring places on my own, eating alone in restaurants, waiting for his business to be over, but once in a while I make an exception. On a recent Saturday he gave a seminar for hotel directors in Marburg and there was a program planned for the wives who tagged along. We had visited Marburg once many, many years ago for a few hours, but all I remembered about it was the very steep hill to the university. One of my very good friends studied there so I felt some interest in re-visiting the town. And it was a Saturday, so it felt more like an excursion.

Frank didn’t have to be there until 11:00 and it’s about an hour and a half from here in the middle of our state, Hessen. We arrived in plenty of time thanks to our navigation system and the lack of week day traffic and in spite of all the road construction. The weather had cooled off considerably and it sprinkled off and on a bit all day, a nice contrast to the very hot weather of the past few weeks.

The seminar was held at a five-star hotel in the middle of town set in a small park filled with flowers. It seemed like a very nice place to stay but I wondered if there were that many people who needed a hotel in Marburg. It’s really a little off the beaten path and there were numerous other hotels in the town.

                                                                              
                                                                              
The hotel looks a little cheesy in this picture but it was really very nice.
                                                                              
I met up with the group of women there who were going to visit the Elisabeth Church. We spent the next hour touring the church and learning all about Saint Elisabeth who turned out to be a fascinating person. She lived in the 12th century, the daughter of a Hungarian king and was married at the ripe old age of 14 to a duke of Thüringen. She soon came under the influence of the Franciscans and began to reject the pomp and luxury that surrounded her. This caused a lot of problems with the royal court, especially her mother-in-law, Sophie. For example, Sophie was not happy when Elisabeth let a leper sleep in her bed. She called Elisabeth’s husband to show him how badly Elisabeth was misbehaving, but when they went to view the evidence they found a portrait of Jesus nailed to the cross in her bed, the ultimate mother-in-law put down! She spent most of her adult life caring for the sick, feeding and clothing the poor, trying to give away her fortune to those who had nothing.

                                                                              
                                                                              
These are the ruins of the hospital that Elisabeth founded in the 12th century.
                                                                              
After her death at the age of 24, her in-laws retaliated for all the pain Elisabeth had caused them during her short life by burying her in a wildly expensive gold casket, studded with precious stones, the complete opposite of all that Elisabeth stood for.

                                                                              
This must have cost her family a pretty penny.
                                                                              
However, in the end Elisabeth escaped from this casket when her bones were “stolen” by the Protestants during the Reformation and hidden. They were later returned to the Order of Teutonic Knights and a receipt was made out and signed, but the bones have disappeared. So now she lies in the anonymous grave she would have preferred.

She was sanctified within four years of her death and the Elisabeth Church was built in her honor, the first and probably only purely Gothic church in Germany. Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor) came all the way from Italy to be present when her bones were raised and put in their place of honor in the church. It soon became the fourth most revered place of pilgrimage in the world after Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Campostello. Who knew that Marburg was once a major center in the world?

                                                                              
Elisabeth Church. This was taken during my loooong climb to the castle.
                                                                              
                                                                              
After the tour of the church the group of ladies broke up and I was on my own. So much for the “Ladies’ Program”.

So I set off to have a closer look at the town. It’s full of half-timbered houses from as early as the 14th century.

                                                                              

I decided to have a look at the castle which is perched on top of the hill the town is built on.
There was small castle here as early as the end of the 9th century, but the existing castle was constructed primarily in the 13th century with additions dating to the 15th century.

                                                                              
Isn't this cute? They had several models from different periods.
                                                                              

Today the castle houses a museum (and photos are allowed!) and since its origins are in the Middle Ages it’s only fitting that there should be an exhibit of medieval armour.

                                                                              
This wasn't for sale or I might have bought it for Max and Alex.

There were some rooms furnished from different periods.
                                                                              
Have a seat. The maid will serve tea in just a minute.

                                                                              
This bed looked very comfy, but if you're over 5' forget it! (I think I could squeeze in.)

                                                                              
But most of all I liked the doll’s houses. I’ve always been fascinated by doll’s houses, especially after seeing Queen Anne’s Doll House in London quite a few years ago after having read an article in National Geographic about it. These weren’t as big or elaborate as Queen Anne’s, but they were very nice nonetheless.

                                                                              

Isn't this the perfect little kitchen?

                                                                              
                                                                              
I love the stairs and the little mirrors.

                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
                                                                              
The rest of my time in Marburg I spent wandering through the town, which is bigger than it appears at first sight, admiring the old houses and happy that I was now on the way down and no longer up.