Saxony-Anhalt sits at the historical heart of Germany, stretching along the Elbe and Saale rivers between the Harz mountains in the west and the Fläming heathland in the east. Its capital, Magdeburg, anchors the north, while Halle (Saale), the state's largest city, dominates the south. The state holds five UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the medieval half-timbered old town of Quedlinburg, the Luther Memorials in Wittenberg and Eisleben where the Protestant Reformation began, Naumburg Cathedral with its celebrated 13th-century sculpture, the Bauhaus buildings in Dessau, and the landscaped Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz.
Destination Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, Summary Saxony-Anhalt's history spans from the Bronze Age Nebra Sky Disc, buried in the Mittelberg hill around 1600 BC, through its role as the heartland of the Ottonian dynasty that founded the medieval German kingdom, to the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation at Wittenberg and Eisleben, the Bauhaus movement's formative years in Dessau, and four decades as part of East Germany before reunification in 1990. Few German states pack this density of world-historical turning points - a founding king's court, a religious revolution, and a design movement that reshaped modern architecture - into one compact, still largely rural landscape.
Historical timeline
Key moments that shaped Saxony-Anhalt.
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1
The Nebra Sky Disc is buried on the Mittelberg hill near present-day Nebra
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2
The Bishopric of Halberstadt is founded under Charlemagne
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3
Henry of Saxony is elected King Henry I, ruling largely from Quedlinburg
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4
Henry I dies and is buried at Quedlinburg; his son Otto I succeeds him
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5
Otto I is crowned Holy Roman Emperor
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6
Otto I founds the archbishopric of Magdeburg
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7
The Bishopric of Merseburg is founded
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8
Construction begins on Magdeburg Cathedral, Germany's oldest fully Gothic cathedral
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9
The Naumburg Master carves the founder statues, including Uta and Ekkehard, in Naumburg Cathedral
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10
Martin Luther is born in Eisleben
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11
The University of Wittenberg is founded by Elector Frederick the Wise
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12
Luther posts the Ninety-Five Theses on the Wittenberg Castle Church door on 31 October
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13
Luther marries Katharina von Bora in Wittenberg's Town Church
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14
Luther dies in Eisleben on 18 February
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15
Catholic League forces sack and burn Magdeburg during the Thirty Years' War, killing an estimated 20,000 residents
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16
Johann Sebastian Bach serves as court Kapellmeister in Köthen
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17
Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz begins laying out Wörlitz Park
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18
The Congress of Vienna transfers Wittenberg and surrounding Saxon territory to Prussia
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19
Wernigerode Castle is remodeled into its current Historicist form
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20
The Bauhaus school relocates from Weimar to Dessau
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21
The Bauhaus Building in Dessau is completed
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22
The Bauhaus school is forced to close in Dessau under Nazi political pressure
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23
Allied bombing destroys much of Magdeburg's and Halberstadt's historic old towns
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24
The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) is founded
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25
The GDR dissolves the state of Saxony-Anhalt into smaller administrative districts
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26
German reunification re-establishes Saxony-Anhalt as a federal state
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27
Quedlinburg's old town is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
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28
The Bauhaus sites in Dessau and the Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg are inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites
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29
The Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
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30
Wittenberg and Eisleben host major events marking the 500th anniversary of the Reformation
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31
Naumburg Cathedral is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Historical eras
The chapters of Saxony-Anhalt's past.
Historical sites
Places where Saxony-Anhalt's past comes alive.
Collegiate Church of St. Servatius, Quedlinburg
The crypt and Romanesque nave of Quedlinburg's collegiate church, standing on the Schlossberg above the old town, preserve the burial site of the first Ottonian king and the treasury of the abbey that governed the town until 1802.
Where: Quedlinburg, Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: €6.50 (~$7) adult; €5 (~$5) concession
Castle Church, Wittenberg
The door of Wittenberg's Castle Church, where Luther is said to have posted his challenge to the sale of indulgences in 1517, remains the symbolic starting point of the Protestant Reformation, commemorated today by a bronze door bearing the full theses text.
Where: Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: Free (donations welcome); tower climb €3 (~$3)
Luther's Birth House, Eisleben
A reconstructed house on the foundations of Luther's birthplace, presenting his family background and childhood in Eisleben's mining economy before his move to Wittenberg.
Where: Lutherstadt Eisleben, Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: €6 (~$6) adult; €5 (~$5) concession
Naumburg Cathedral
A double-choired Gothic cathedral whose 13th-century founder statues, especially the figure of Uta von Ballenstedt, are regarded as landmarks of medieval European sculpture for their unusually naturalistic expression.
Where: Naumburg (Saale), Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: €9.50 (~$10) adult; €6 (~$6) concession
Magdeburg Cathedral
Germany's earliest complete Gothic cathedral, begun in 1209 on the site of Otto I's earlier church foundation, holding the emperor's tomb before the high altar.
Where: Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: €7 (~$8) adult; €5 (~$5) concession
Merseburg Cathedral
A Romanesque and Gothic cathedral seat of the medieval Bishopric of Merseburg, with an attached castle and cathedral chapter library holding rare early medieval manuscripts.
Where: Merseburg, Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: €6 (~$6) adult; €4 (~$4) concession
Halberstadt Cathedral (Halberstädter Dom)
A Gothic cathedral on one of Germany's oldest episcopal sites, its treasury preserving an exceptional collection of medieval tapestries, vestments, and reliquaries largely undamaged through the centuries.
Where: Halberstadt, Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: €5 (~$5) adult, includes cathedral treasury
Bauhaus Building, Dessau
Walter Gropius's 1926 glass-and-steel school building, designed as an architectural manifesto of Bauhaus design principles, remains one of the most studied buildings of the 20th century.
Where: Dessau-Rosslau, Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: Combined ticket typically €18-20 (~$19-22) adult
Wörlitz Gothic House and Park
An 18th-century English-style landscape park built for Prince Franz of Anhalt-Dessau, with a Gothic Revival house holding genuine medieval stained glass collected on the prince's travels.
Where: Wörlitz, Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: Park free; Gothic House/Palace combined ticket €13 (~$14)
Wernigerode Castle
A medieval fortress remodeled in the 19th century into a fairy-tale Historicist castle for the Counts of Stolberg-Wernigerode, preserved largely intact as a museum through the East German period.
Where: Wernigerode, Saxony-Anhalt
Admission: €8 (~$9) adult self-guided
Museums
Curated collections that tell Saxony-Anhalt's story.
Historical tours
Guided experiences that bring history to life.