Worms Synagogue Compound and Exhibition grounds 1904

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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

   Worms Synagogue Compound is where the day begins. Next is Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 16 km into the recorded legs. Next is Exhibition grounds 1904.

3. 3. Exhibition grounds 1904

   In 1899, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse invited a group of young artists and architects to Darmstadt and gave them a hill to build on. The Mathildenhöhe became an artists' colony and a showcase for Jugendstil, the German Art Nouveau, with studios, houses and exhibitions designed as total works of art, down to the cutlery. Behind it lay a simple idea: that art should shape everyday life, from the house to the chair to the wallpaper. The exhibitions of 1901, 1904, 1908 and 1914 drew visitors from all over Europe, and the ensemble was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2021.

   Read the complete Exhibition grounds 1904 write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 45 km into the recorded legs you reach Exhibition grounds 1904. Next is back through Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch.

4. 4. 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, late in the day. Next is Worms Synagogue Compound.

5. 5. 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

   Back at Worms Synagogue Compound. That is the ride.