Worms Synagogue Compound and Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt

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 Exhibition grounds 1904.

2. 2. 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

   Exhibition grounds 1904 comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ruine Altenmuster.

3. 3. 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

   about 76 km into the recorded legs you reach Ruine Altenmuster. Next is Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt.

4. 4. Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt

   On a low hill above Darmstadt, at the very end of the nineteenth century, the young Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse decided to gather artists and let them build a new way of living. The Mathildenhöhe became an artists' colony from 1899, and its buildings are some of the best Jugendstil, the German Art Nouveau, anywhere. UNESCO listed the ensemble in 2021. Joseph Maria Olbrich designed most of the first generation, including the exhibition hall and the tall Wedding Tower, with its fingers of brick at the top, finished in 1908 as a gift for the Grand Duke's marriage.

   Read the complete Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt, about halfway. Next is back through Ruine Altenmuster.

5. 5. 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 sits at 152 km, about halfway. Next is back through Exhibition grounds 1904.

6. 6. back through Exhibition grounds 1904

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   back through Exhibition grounds 1904 comes up about 171 km into the recorded legs. Next is Worms Synagogue Compound.

7. 7. 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

   Worms Synagogue Compound closes the day.