Naumburg (Saale) - Main Sights

Main Sights

The most important architectural landmark of the city is St. Peter and Paul's Cathedral (known in German as the Naumburger Dom), an impressive late Romanesque and Gothic Cathedral, built between the 13th and 15th centuries.

The early Gothic western rood screen was built in 1250. The eastern screen was added in the high Gothic style in the first half of the 14th century. The Romanesque crypt under the east gallery was established around 1170 and was part of an earlier building. Both of the towers at the east end of the church are octagonal and have Baroque canopies. The south-western spire was completed only in 1884; both western spires are closely modelled on the spires of the cathedrals of Laon and Bamberg. The pulpit dates from 1466.

Its interior includes windows from the Middle Ages, as well as the famous 13th-century statues of the founders of the cathedral, Margrave Ekkehard and his wife Uta, along with other local nobles.

The western tower has been open to the public since Easter 2007, after having long been closed for renovations.

Other attractions include:

• The late Gothic city hall (Rathaus).
• The late Renaissance residence of the Duke Moritz of Saxony-Zeitz.
• The Gothic St. Wenceslas Church, which displays paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Hildebrandt organ that Johann Sebastian Bach played on.
• The former bishop's castle Schönburg, which overlooks the city and the Saale River.

Some parts of the medieval city fortifications survive, including one of the old city gates, the Marientor.

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche spent his childhood and his later years in Naumburg in the home of his mother's family. The house, known as the Nietzsche-Haus, is now a museum.