In 2007, during construction work near the Krämerbrücke in Erfurt, archaeologists uncovered a medieval ritual bath, a mikveh, beside the river Gera, which had been forgotten for centuries. It dates from the thirteenth century and was used by the city's Jewish community until the pogrom of 1349, when the community was destroyed during the panic of the Black Death. It is now protected and can be visited on guided tours. Together with the Old Synagogue and the Stone House, a medieval residence, the mikveh forms the Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt, listed by UNESCO in 2023.
The Old Synagogue is one of the oldest surviving synagogue buildings in Europe, with parts dating back to around 1100, and it survived because, after 1349, it was converted to a warehouse and later a dance hall and restaurant, its original use forgotten. Today it houses a museum, and its basement displays the Erfurt Treasure, a hoard of gold and silver jewellery, coins and other objects buried by a Jewish merchant during the pogrom and found in 1998, including a rare medieval Jewish wedding ring.
Erfurt is the capital of Thuringia, a city of churches, towers and half-timbered houses, and its old town is one of the best preserved in Germany. The Krämerbrücke, a medieval bridge lined with inhabited houses and small shops, is one of the city's landmarks, and the cathedral and the church of St Severus stand side by side on a hill above the Domplatz, reached by a broad flight of steps. Martin Luther studied at the university here and became a monk in the Augustinian monastery.
For riders, Erfurt is a gateway to the Thuringian Forest, a range of forested hills to the south, with excellent roads winding through valleys, over ridges and past small towns and villages. The Rennsteig, an old ridge path, runs along the crest, and roads crossing it, such as those around Oberhof, Schmiedefeld and Ilmenau, offer superb riding. Closer to Erfurt, the countryside is flat to rolling farmland, with good roads but less excitement.
Erfurt, a city of over two hundred thousand people, has fuel, shops and restaurants of every kind. Thuringia is famous for its sausages, the Thüringer Rostbratwurst, grilled over charcoal and served in a bread roll with mustard, sold at stands all over the city, and for its potato dumplings, Thüringer Klöße. Grab a sausage on the Domplatz and enjoy it with the view of the cathedral.