Why this ride
A 361 km round trip from Wittenberg - roughly 5 h 31 in the saddle. It goes by way of Historical Graveyard Dessau, Luther's birthplace, Collegiate Church and back through Luther's birthplace. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Town Church and Collegiate Church
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 361 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 31
- 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
Historical Graveyard Dessau → Luther's birthplace
The ride follows Historical Graveyard Dessau → Luther's birthplace for 91 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 91 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Town Church
Wittenberg is a small town on the Elbe, in flat sandy country, and it is the place where the Reformation began. The Town Church of St Mary was the church where Martin Luther preached for decades, and where in 1525 he was married to Katharina von Bora, a former nun. The twin towers rise over the market square, and the interior holds an altarpiece painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop, finished in the 1540s, which shows the Lord's Supper, baptism, confession and preaching, illustrating the new Protestant ideas in a way ordinary people could grasp. Luther himself and his friends appear in the paintings.
Read the complete The Town Church write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Town Church is where the day begins. Next is Historical Graveyard Dessau.
2. Historical Graveyard Dessau
Dessau is best known for the Bauhaus, but the city's older story is one of parks and princes. The Historical Graveyard, laid out in the Enlightenment spirit of the late eighteenth century, was designed as a landscape garden as much as a burial ground, with winding paths, old trees and monuments set among greenery. Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau, who created the nearby Garden Realm of Dessau-Wörlitz, believed that gardens could educate and uplift, and the cemetery follows the same idea: a place to walk and reflect.
Read the complete Historical Graveyard Dessau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historical Graveyard Dessau comes up about 35 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 126 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 227 km, about halfway. Next is back through Historical Graveyard Dessau.
6. back through Historical Graveyard Dessau
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historical Graveyard Dessau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Historical Graveyard Dessau comes up about 325 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Town Church.
7. The Town Church
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Town Church write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Town Church closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Town Church to Historical Graveyard Dessau
The Town Church → Historical Graveyard Dessau is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historical Graveyard Dessau to Luther's birthplace
Historical Graveyard Dessau → Luther's birthplace is 91 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 Historical Graveyard Dessau
back through Luther's birthplace → back through Historical Graveyard Dessau is 85 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Historical Graveyard Dessau to The Town Church
back through Historical Graveyard Dessau → The Town Church is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.