Why this ride
From Darmstadt it runs 171 km to Darmstadt; allow about 3 h 01 of riding. It goes by way of Ruine Altenmuster, Worms Synagogue Compound, Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch and Old Jewish Cemetery Worms.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Exhibition grounds 1901 and Old Jewish Cemetery Worms
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 171 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 01
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Worms Synagogue Compound → Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 20 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 16 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Exhibition grounds 1901
In 1899 the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse did something unusual for a ruler: he invited a group of young artists to Darmstadt and gave them a hill to build on. The Mathildenhohe, a low rise on the edge of the old town, became an artists' colony where architects, painters and designers could live, work and experiment. The first great exhibition, in 1901, was called A Document of German Art, and the houses and studios built for it were part of the show. UNESCO listed the colony as a World Heritage site in 2021.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1901 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Exhibition grounds 1901 is where the day begins. Next is Ruine Altenmuster.
2. Ruine Altenmuster
Lorsch Abbey, founded in the eighth century, became one of the most powerful monasteries of the Carolingian empire, with vast estates, a famous library and the patronage of Charlemagne himself. Its first home, however, was not on the site of the later abbey, but a short distance away, on an island in the Weschnitz river, a place known as Altenmünster, the old minster. The ruins of that first foundation, a few low walls in a meadow, are a quiet counterpoint to the abbey's most famous building, the Torhalle, a gatehouse with a façade of red and white stone panels, one of the few surviving examples of Carolingian architecture. The abbey and Altenmünster together have been on the UNESCO list since 1991.
Read the complete Ruine Altenmuster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ruine Altenmuster comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Worms Synagogue Compound.
3. Worms Synagogue Compound
In the Middle Ages, three Rhineland cities, Speyer, Worms and Mainz, were the centres of Jewish learning in northern Europe, and they gave their initials, in Hebrew, to a community known as ShUM. The Jewish communities of these cities developed traditions, laws and customs that influenced Ashkenazi Jewry for centuries, and their monuments were listed together by UNESCO in 2021. In Worms, the synagogue compound includes the synagogue, rebuilt after its destruction by the Nazis in 1938, the women's synagogue, the mikveh, a ritual bath dating from the twelfth century, and the Rashi house, now a Jewish museum, named after the great medieval scholar who studied here.
Read the complete Worms Synagogue Compound write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach Worms Synagogue Compound. Next is Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch.
4. Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch
Lorsch looks like a regular small town of the Hessian Bergstrasse, and then you see the Torhalle, a little gatehouse of red and white stone with an arcade at the bottom and a pitched roof above, which is one of the very few surviving buildings of the Carolingian age in Germany. The abbey was founded in 764, rose to enormous wealth and influence under Charlemagne's family, and its library produced and preserved a startling number of manuscripts. The Lorsch Pharmacopoeia, written around 795, is one of the earliest known medical texts from German lands, and the monks' collection of books is scattered through libraries in Rome, Heidelberg and the Vatican today. UNESCO listed the abbey and nearby Altenmünster in 1991.
Read the complete Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch, about halfway. Next is Old Jewish Cemetery Worms.
5. Old Jewish Cemetery Worms
The Heiliger Sand in Worms is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe, with gravestones going back to the eleventh century. Weathered sandstone slabs lean at angles among the grass and trees, carved with Hebrew inscriptions, some barely legible after nearly a thousand years. Pebbles and small notes lie on many of them, left by visitors as a sign of remembrance, especially on the grave of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, a great scholar of the thirteenth century who died in captivity. Together with the synagogue and ritual bath of Worms and the Jewish sites of Speyer and Mainz, the cemetery forms the ShUM Sites, listed by UNESCO in 2021, recognising the Rhineland communities that shaped Ashkenazi Jewish culture in the Middle Ages.
Read the complete Old Jewish Cemetery Worms write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Old Jewish Cemetery Worms sits at 96 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch.
6. back through Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch comes up about 102 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Worms Synagogue Compound.
7. back through Worms Synagogue Compound
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Worms Synagogue Compound write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 118 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Worms Synagogue Compound. Next is back through Ruine Altenmuster.
8. back through Ruine Altenmuster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ruine Altenmuster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ruine Altenmuster, late in the day. Next is Exhibition grounds 1901.
9. Exhibition grounds 1901
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1901 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 171 km.
Leg by leg
Exhibition grounds 1901 to Ruine Altenmuster
Exhibition grounds 1901 → Ruine Altenmuster is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ruine Altenmuster to Worms Synagogue Compound
Ruine Altenmuster → Worms Synagogue Compound is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Worms Synagogue Compound to Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch
Worms Synagogue Compound → Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch to Old Jewish Cemetery Worms
Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch → Old Jewish Cemetery Worms is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Old Jewish Cemetery Worms to back through Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch
Old Jewish Cemetery Worms → back through Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch to back through Worms Synagogue Compound
back through Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch → back through Worms Synagogue Compound is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Worms Synagogue Compound to back through Ruine Altenmuster
back through Worms Synagogue Compound → back through Ruine Altenmuster is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ruine Altenmuster to Exhibition grounds 1901
back through Ruine Altenmuster → Exhibition grounds 1901 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.