Grünberg Things to Do

The medieval town of Neustadt had it's own little church: St. Paul's. In the middle of the 15th century, the Augustine Monks built a monastery next to it. Only this long half-timbered building is all that is left of the monastery, which was the hospital for the town of Grünberg since the sixteenth century. This building was built sometime just before the year of 1500. It's large two-nave hall on the ground floor is typical for the way they used to build hospitals during this period in history. The Grünbergers have decided to put their city museum here. The rest of the monastery buildings have all disappeared through time. On the ruins of the old church, the cementary church was built. It's a baroque building, and the light coming through the windows makes it an inspirational church. There are all kinds of grave stones in the church, but the inscription under the southern window is interesting, which translates:
1747 Let us buy the gulden hours / that tick in the clock of our lives / before the gears run down too fast / and leave the clock's hand standing.

Near the path that leads into the well valley, there used be a town watchtower, which guarded the path to the drinking water source. Today it belongs to the Brunnental (fountain valley) recreational area. The well has been divided into two ponds since around 1824; before this there were three of them. The large water wheel is the last pumping station from the 19th century that still pumps water out of the ponds.

The Winterplatz reigns over the former brewery, a half-timbered house from the 18th century. The lion on the fountain is a replica from the old one on the marketplace fountain. Directly above the cliff is a small stone house which dates back to 1582. This is where the pressurized water line ends, which pumped drinking water from a 60 meter depth, using various water piping systems ever since 1419. A small sign display explains how this was done.

If you walk from the church plaza over the tiny bridge, you can see the birth house of Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker (1784-1868), a half-timbered house from the 17th century. Welcker was a predominent archaeologist, a professor in Bonn and friend of Alexander von Humboldt.

On the most strategic place in town, on the cliff above the valley for the well, Landgrave Ludwig III built a castle in 1186. In the middle of the 16th century, a new building was erected, in which the Landgrave’s stewards lived. The building was sold to the citizens of Grünberg in 1810. Until 1969 it was a private house, which became more and more run-down, until it had to be torn down. Today you can still see remnants from the old city walls from the valley side of where the house once stood.

In the Judengasse (Jewish ally) you can see the old iron smith’s shop; an old and completely refurbished iron smith shop, which now belongs to the City of Grünberg.

The town church was built in neo-gothic style from 1846-1852. Where it now stands was once the gothic church of St. Mary’s, which was the model for the Marburg St. Elizabeth Church in the second half of the 13th century. It collapsed in 1816. For decades it was a picturesque ruin; services were held in the nearby cemetery chapel. On the south side of the church is a replica of the “Mourners of Christ”, a graveyard sculpture by Samuel Nahl from 1770.

Directly next to the Thieves' Tower you can still see the Gothic stone building of the Franciscan Monastery (also known as the bare-foot monastery). It was founded in the middle of the 13th century; the oldest document which attests it's existence dates back to 1272. In 1528 it was secularized (turned into a public building), and the last of the monks moved to Limburg or Cologne. Not long afterwards the building began to decay - there where the garden area now is. At the end of the 16th century, it was torn down except for the one still standing there, which has been completely restored. This probably was the living quarters for the monks. It's outer wall butts right up to the town’s walls. Today you can still see the stairway tower in the north and the interior, especially the arched cellar and the old fountain.

The St. Anthony’s Monastery was very important for Grünberg’s history. It was sponsored by the Thurgian Landgrave in 1200. He also sponsored a monastery in Mecklenburg in 1222. Until the monastery was closed in 1526, it was a very influential monastery in middle Germany. The the buildings that make up the remains of the monastery consist of a trapazoid formed courtyard, which lies between the B 49 highway, the market place and the Rosengasse (rose ally).

Directly from the parking place, you can see that the walls of the monastery were higher than the town’s walls were. Only the windows and the wonderful bay window are all that remain from the Refectorium, which are visible from here. On the smaller side of the monastery you will see the former church. With it’s front toward the Rosengasse you can see the castle, which was re-modeled by Eberth Baldwein to become the widow’s residence for the Hessian Landgraves. Characteristic is the beautiful Renaissance bay window.

The old Lion Fountain delivered the people of Grünberg their drinking water until the end of the 19th century, directly from the Brunnental. Today the lion along with other parts of the fountain can be found in the former storage house on Winterplatz.