Why this ride
362 km from Dessau to Dessau, about 5 h 23 of riding. On the way it passes Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz, Luther's birthplace, Collegiate Church and back through Luther's birthplace. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Palace Mosigkau and Collegiate Church
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 362 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 23
- 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
Palace Mosigkau → Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz
The ride follows Palace Mosigkau → Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz for 27 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 27 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Palace Mosigkau
Palace Mosigkau is a small Rococo palace on the edge of Dessau, in Saxony-Anhalt, and its story is that of a princess who wanted a house of her own. It was built in the middle of the eighteenth century for Anna Wilhelmine, a daughter of the Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau, known as the Old Dessauer, a military commander of the Prussian army. She did not marry, and after she died the palace became a noble ladies' foundation, a Damenstift, where unmarried women of good family could live in comfort. Its name sits within the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Realm, a landscape of palaces and parks created in the age of the Enlightenment, which UNESCO has listed.
Read the complete Palace Mosigkau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Palace Mosigkau is where the day begins. Next is Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz.
2. Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz
In the late eighteenth century, a small German principality decided to remake its entire landscape as a work of art. Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau, inspired by travels in England and by the ideas of the Enlightenment, created a vast network of parks, gardens, palaces and estates along the Elbe and Mulde rivers, combining beauty, education and agriculture. The result, the Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz, is one of the earliest and largest landscape gardens in continental Europe, and it was listed by UNESCO in 2000.
Read the complete Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Luther's birthplace.
3. Luther's birthplace
Martin Luther was born in Eisleben on 10 November 1483, and by an odd twist of fate he died here too, in 1546, while on a visit to settle a dispute between the counts of Mansfeld. The house where he was born was rebuilt after a fire in the seventeenth century and became one of the first museums in Germany dedicated to a single person. Together with the house where he died and the sites in Wittenberg where he lived and taught, it forms the UNESCO site of the Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg, listed in 1996. The museum tells the story of Luther's family, his childhood and the beginning of the Reformation, and it has been extended with modern exhibitions.
Read the complete Luther's birthplace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 124 km into the recorded legs you reach Luther's birthplace. Next is Collegiate Church.
4. Collegiate Church
High on a rock above Quedlinburg stands the Collegiate Church of St Servatius, a heavy Romanesque church that is one of the most important of its kind in Germany. The first church on the hill was connected to the Ottonian kings, and Henry the Fowler, the first king of the East Frankish realm in the early tenth century, was buried here. His widow Mathilda founded a convent of noblewomen on the site, which became powerful, with abbesses who were often relatives of the emperors and ran a small state of their own.
Read the complete Collegiate Church write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Collegiate Church, about halfway. Next is back through Luther's birthplace.
5. back through Luther's birthplace
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Luther's birthplace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Luther's birthplace sits at 231 km, about halfway. Next is back through Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz.
6. back through Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz comes up about 335 km into the recorded legs. Next is Palace Mosigkau.
7. Palace Mosigkau
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palace Mosigkau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Palace Mosigkau closes the day.
Leg by leg
Palace Mosigkau to Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz
Palace Mosigkau → Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz to Luther's birthplace
Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz → Luther's birthplace is 97 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Luther's birthplace to Collegiate Church
Luther's birthplace → Collegiate Church is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Collegiate Church to back through Luther's birthplace
Collegiate Church → back through Luther's birthplace is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Luther's birthplace to back through Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz
back through Luther's birthplace → back through Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz is 97 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz to Palace Mosigkau
back through Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz → Palace Mosigkau is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.