Quedlinburg Travel Guide
A detailed destination guide for your next Germany vacation
Quedlinburg Overview
Quedlinburg is a town located north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1994 the medieval old town was set on the UNESCO world heritage list. Until 2007 it was the capital of the district of Quedlinburg.
The town is located north of the Harz mountains approximatively 123 meters above sea level. The nearest mountains reach 181 Meter above sealevel. The biggest part of the town is located in the western part of the river Bodes bed. This river comes from the Harz mountains and flows into the river Saale and further into the river Elbe. The towns area is about 78.15 square kilometer.
Where to stay in Quedlinburg?
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Things to See
In the innermost parts of the town a wide selection of half-timbered buildings from at least five different centuries are to be found (including a 14th century structure one of Germany's oldest), while around the outer fringes of the old town there are wonderful examples of Jugendstil buildings, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Since December 1994 the old town of Quedlinburg and the castle mount with the collegiate church are listed as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites.[1] Quedlinburg is one of the best-preserved medieval and renaissance towns in Europe, having miraculously escaped major damage in World War II.
In 2006 the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen Selketal branch was extended into Quedlinburg from Gernrode (Gernrode vacation rentals | Gernrode travel guide) giving access to the historic steam narrow gauge railway, Alexisbad and high Harz plateau.
Climate
Quedlinburg has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification) resulting from Prevailing Westerlies, blowing from the high pressure area in the central atlantic towards Scandinavia. Snowfall occurs every almost winter. January and February are the coldest months of the year, with an average temperature of 0.1 °C and 0.4 °C. July and August are the hottest months, with an average temperature of 17.8 °C (63 °F) and 17.2 °C. The average annual precipitation is close to 438 millimetres with rain occurring usually from May to September. This precipitation is one of the lowest in Germany, which has an annual average close to 700 millimetres.
[ source: wikipedia ]
Maps and Driving Directions to Quedlinburg
The airports nearest to Quedlinburg are the Airport Hannover in a distance of 120 kilometer in direction North-West and the Leipzig/Halle Airport 90 kilometer in the South-East. Much closer, but only served by small private airplanes and business jets is the Airport Magdeburg-Cochstedt.
Travel Insider Tips for Quedlinburg
I went to Quedlinburg 2 weeks ago. awesome place! Like a little fairytale.
Shared by Sascha Tobias Poeschl, Sep 2009
Spent 4 weeks at summer camp there many years ago when it was still the DDR..beautiful place and scenery.
Shared by Ingrid Rowe, Jul 2010
My husband and I were there just 3 weeks ago...magnificent city. We stayed in a very old hotel in the middle of the alt stadt. Just beautiful.
Shared by Lenke Mann, Jul 2010
[Quedlinburg is] a great little city. We were there in 2008. Pubarschknall is still the only beer my wife likes.
Shared by Steve Kennedy, Sep 2009
Quedlinburg
[ source: Flickr]
Popular Points of Interest in and near Quedlinburg
Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg UNESCO World Heritage Site
[ source: Wikipedia ]
The old town of Quedlinburg and the castle mount with the collegiate church are listed as one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Quedlinburg is one of the best-preserved medieval and renaissance towns in Europe, having miraculously escaped major damage in World War II. In the innermost parts of the town a wide selection of half-timbered buildings from at least five different centuries are to be found (including a 14th century structure--one of Germany's oldest), while around the outer fringes of the old town there are wonderful examples of Jugendstil buildings, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The castle and the cathedral still towers above the city the way they dominated the town in early Middle Ages. The cathedral is a prime example of German Romanesque style.
Related Sites
We collected some useful links related to Quedlinburg. If you know a few more sites not listed here, or also know some insider tips or point of interests for this destination? Please share and submit your Germany travel tip. If approved it will be shown on this page!
- Wikipedia: Quedlinburg
- UNESCO World-Heritage-City
More about the History of Quedlinburg
The town of Quedlinburg is known since at least the early 9th century, when a settlement known as Gross Orden existed at the eastern bank of the river Bode. As such the city is first mentioned in 922, as part of a donation by Henry the Fowler. The records of this donation were collected at the abbey of Corvey.
After Henry's death in 936, his widow Saint Mathilda founded a religious community for women ("Frauenstift") on the castle hill, where daughters of the higher nobility were educated. The main task of this collegiate foundation, Quedlinburg Abbey (where the Annals of Quedlinburg were compiled), was to pray for the memory of King Henry and the rulers that came after him. The first abbess was Mathilde, granddaughter of Henry and Saint Mathilde.
The Quedlinburg castle complex, founded by Henry the Fowler and built up by Otto I the Great in 936, was an imperial palatinate of the Saxon emperors. The palatinate, including the male convent, was in the valley, where nowadays the Roman Catholic church of St Wiperti is situated, while the women's convent was located on the castle hill.
In 961 and 963 a Canon's monastery was established in St. Wiperti, south of the castle hill. It was abandoned in the 16th century, and at one time the church, which boasts a magnificent crypt from the 10th century, was even used as a barn and a pigsty before being restored in the 1950s.
In 973, shortly before the death of emperor Otto I the Great, a Reichstag (Imperial Convention) was held at the imperial court in which Mieszko, duke of Poland, and Boleslav, duke of Bohemia, as well as numerous other nobles from as far away as Byzantium and Bulgaria, gathered to pay homage to the emperor. In the occasion Otto the Great introduced his new daughter-in-law Theophanu, a Byzantine princess whose marriage to Otto II brought hope for recognition and continued peace between the rulers of the Eastern and Western empires.
In 994 Otto III granted the right of market, tax and coining and established the first market place to the north of the castle hill.
The town became a member of the Hanseatic League in 1426. Quedlinburg Abbey frequently disputed the independence of Quedlinburg, which sought the aid of the Bishopric of Halberstadt (Halberstadt vacation rentals | Halberstadt travel guide). In 1477 Abbess Hedwig, aided by her brothers Ernest and Albert, broke the resistance of the town and expelled the bishop's forces. Quedlinburg was forced to leave the Hanseatic League and was subsequently protected by the Electorate of Saxony. Both town and abbey converted to Lutheranism in 1539 during the Protestant Reformation.
In 1697 Elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony sold his rights to Quedlinburg to Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg for 240,000 thalers. Quedlinburg Abbey contested Brandenburg-Prussia's claims throughout the 18th century, however. The abbey was secularized in 1802 during the German Mediatisation and Quedlinburg passed to the Kingdom of Prussia as part of the Principality of Quedlinburg. Part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807-13, it was included within the new Prussian Province of Saxony in 1815.
During the Nazi regime, the memory of Henry I became a sort of cult, as Heinrich Himmler saw himself as the reincarnation of the "most German of all German" rulers. The collegiate church and castle were to be turned into a shrine for Nazi Germany. Quedlinburg was administered within Bezirk Halle (Halle vacation rentals | Halle travel guide) while part of the Communist East Germany from 1949 to 1990. It became part of the state of Saxony-Anhalt upon German reunification in 1990.
During Quedlinburg's Communist era as part of the GDR (1949-1990), restoration specialists from Poland were called in during the 1980s to carry out repairs on the old architecture. As in all German cities the Altstadt old city medieval sections, are the most popular attractions of any town.
During the last months of World War II, the United States Military occupied Quedlinburg. In the 1980s, upon the death of one of the US Military men, the Theft of medieval art from Quedlinburg came to light.
[ source: wikipedia ]
What makes this Live Like a German Quedlinburg Travel Guide special...
This Quedlinburg travel guide provides you with an overview of Quedlinburg, Quedlinburg pictures, and a local travel guide that suggests many special trips, unique activities, and vacation ideas, that you can't find in a typical Germany travel guide.
Some of this information is compiled from popular and well-known sources (e.g., such as Wikipedia, Wikitravel, and great pictures from Flickr). However, what makes this Germany travel guide special is that most of the travel suggestions and insider tips are provided by local residents, property owners, and our readers, who share and submit their travel tips with us. All submissions are then editorially reviewed to ensure high quality. All this information is logically organized within this destination guide to make it easy for you to find things quickly.
In addition, the Quedlinburg destination guide features restaurant recommendations, restaurant reviews, where to go for grocery shopping, sports activities, getting around, cultural events and highlights, entertainment, and health related information - so you are informed for your travel to Germany, and you can learn about all the cool things you can do during your Germany vacation!
