Wartburg
About This Site
The Wartburg has stood on its hill above Eisenach for close to a thousand years, and it has been the only castle in Germany on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1999. Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German inside it; centuries of poets, painters and one composer have made it a setting of their own.
A thousand years on the hill, 1067/1080–1999
Tradition dates the Wartburg's founding to 1067; the first document naming it is from 1080. What followed is one of the longest-inhabited hilltop castles in central Europe, rebuilt and added to across nine centuries without ever losing the name or the site. UNESCO placed it on the World Heritage list in 1999 as an "ideal castle" of the feudal age — the first, and still the only, castle in Germany with that listing.[1]
Where the New Testament became German, 1521–1522
In 1521 and 1522 the outlawed monk Martin Luther lived here in hiding and translated the New Testament from Greek into German. The Wartburg's own account calls this the foundation of a unified German written language[1] — a claim about the language, not only about the book, and the reason this castle sits in German literary history as well as Reformation history.
A cradle of literature, real and legendary, 13th–14th centuries
Chroniclers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries set a song contest among poets at the Wartburg court — the Sängerkrieg — a story written generations after the events it claims to describe.[2] Legend or not, it made the castle a byword for the birth of German literature and gave Richard Wagner the setting and the subject of his opera Tannhäuser, still the work most people associate with the Wartburg's name.
Saint Elizabeth's years, early 13th century
Early in the thirteenth century the Wartburg was home to Elizabeth of Thuringia, later canonised and remembered ever since as a model of practical charity toward the poor and the sick. Her rooms and the chapel associated with her are part of the tour the castle still gives.
Questions visitors ask
- How old is the Wartburg?
- Tradition dates its founding to 1067; the first document naming it is from 1080. UNESCO placed it on the World Heritage list in 1999 as the only castle in Germany with that listing.[1]
- What did Martin Luther do at the Wartburg?
- Hiding here as an outlaw in 1521 and 1522, he translated the New Testament from Greek into German — a translation the castle's own account calls the foundation of a unified German written language.[1]
- What is the Sängerkrieg?
- A song contest among poets that chroniclers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries set at the Wartburg court, written generations after the events it describes.[2] Legend or not, it made the castle a byword for German literature and gave Richard Wagner the subject of his opera Tannhäuser.
- Who was Elizabeth of Thuringia?
- A saint who lived at the Wartburg in the early thirteenth century, remembered ever since as a model of practical charity toward the poor and the sick; her rooms and chapel are part of the castle tour.
- What are the opening hours and admission?
- Summer (1 Apr–1 Nov): tickets 10:00–17:00, grounds 08:00–20:00; winter (2 Nov–25 Mar): tickets 09:30–15:00, grounds 10:00–16:30. €13 adults, €9 reduced, under 6 free.
Sources
- Die Wartburg — Wartburg-Stiftung, retrieved 30 August 2026
- Wartburg — Wikipedia, retrieved 30 August 2026
Connected Historical Figures
reformer • theologian • preacher
Visit Information
€13 adults; €9 reduced; €5 ages 7–18; €31 family (2 adults + up to 5 children); €22 mini-family (1 adult + up to 5 children); under 6 free
Summer (1 Apr–1 Nov): tickets 10:00–17:00, grounds 08:00–20:00; winter (2 Nov–25 Mar): tickets 09:30–15:00, grounds 10:00–16:30
Auf der Wartburg 1, 99817 Eisenach
In Weimar's history
Around Weimar
West
The castle above the town, where Luther translated the New Testament in 1521 and 1522 — a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999.