Photo: architectural monuments, Old Town, Saxony-Anhalt

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Old Town: square, Roland and Fachwerk

Architectural Monuments

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The long MarketSquare with Fachwerk houses of different eras is considered the centre of oldQuedlinburg. The most important building here is the Renaissance-style townhall. This two-storey mansion was constructed in the 14th centuryand reconstructed in 1615. An impressive 2.7-meters tall statue of Roland issituated next to it. The figure of the knight with a naked sword symbolizingthe freedom of the medieval town appeared in Quedlinburg in the 15thcentury when its residents rose against the authoritarian power of the localabbesses. However several years later the statue was taken down. Stone Rolandstayed in the yard of the town hall for almost 400 years! Only in the beginningof the 19th century it was restored and placed in the same spot.

Right behind the town hall there is a gothic tower ofthe St. Benedict church in the old town. Inside you will find a 1500 gothicwooden altar, while opposite to the entrance – a 1726 impressive mausoleum of arich local merchant. Word Street starts at the opposite side of the square andhas the oldest Fachwerk house in Eastern Germany that dates back to the 13th-14thcenturies. Today it hosts the Fachwerk Museum.

Narrow medieval streets run in differentdirections from the Market Square. Among them is the Blasiistrasse lane with an18th century church of St. Blasii and its impressive Roman tower. Ifyou go along Breite Strasse (Wide Street), you can reach a small quarter ofcraftsmen through a narrow lane of Schuhhof (Shoe Courtyard). There you willfind the oldest secular constructions of Quedlinburg. But the most captivatingwalk will take place in the triangle of streets Hölle – Pölle – Stieg. It was here that once upon atime the core of a free merchant town was located, while today some of the mostbeautiful Fachwerk mansions of Quedlinburg have remained.

Old Town: square, Roland and Fachwerk

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