Magdeburg Things to Do

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This is what you can see visiting the Dom, the city cathedral.
The view is from another great old postcard I brought from my trip and have kept since my students' years.
The city cathedral suffered a big destruction during the last war and was restored according to old drawings and pictures...

Officially known as *Cathedral of Saints*, Magdeburger Dom was originally built in 937 and considered to be Germany's earliest Gothic church. With towers reaching 104m it is also the tallest in East Germany. It sits in the vast Cathedral Square surrounded by coffee shops and restaurants.

Opening times are:

Mon-Sat 10.00-17.00

Sun 11.30 - 17.00

There were several lovely churches in the city centre which we didn't have time to investigate unfortunately. St Sebastian's was one of them!

St Sebastian's is also considered to be a cathedral. The cornerstone was laid in 1015 by archbishop Gero. IIt was destroyed in the same city fire as the other churches and buildings in Magdeburg, and then re-built as a gothic church in the 14th/15th century.

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I was thrilled and delighted to discover that one of my favourite artists - Hundertwasser (1928-2000) - had his last work built here in Magdeburg. It is very easy to find as it is close to the Cathedral. At a cost to build of 27.1million Euro, it contains 55 apartments, a hotel and a kindergarten.

This is definitely well worth seeing - Hundertwasser didn't believe in straight lines - either in his paintings or his buildings and with a 33m spiral tower , the bright pink "Grüne Zitadelle" is just stunning.

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Global investors and chain stores have invaded Magdeburg soon after the reunification. Along Ernst-Reuter-Allee two new shopping malls have been built: Allee-Center on Breiter Weg and City Carré next to the train station. These indoor malls – Allee-Center is the better of the two – have plenty of shops of all kinds and food stalls like everywhere, good to grab a quick bite. However, the mall looks like any other mall and the shops are the usual chain stores you find everywhere. There are hardly any locally owned businesses in these malls, except maybe the butcher and baker.

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Just like Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin, Magdeburg has got its Stalinist boulevard as a reverence to big brother in Moscow. Now named Ernst-Reuter-Straße, the street leads in west-eastern direction from the train station towards the Elbe. Several blocks along this street have been built in the 1950s in the style of the Stalin era with its typical ornaments.

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Liebfrauenkloster is older than the Dom, church and cloister show purest Romanesque style. The monastery, however, has long been closed down. DDR times profaned the church, renamed and used it as a concert hall. The convent buildings contain an art gallery with an interesting and high quality exhibition of DDR sculpture. They also show temporary exhibitions of contemporary art.

Sculptures have also been put up outside the museum in the grounds. You can see these without entering the museum. There are many sculptures elsewhere in Magdeburg’s streets, too.

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The museum of cultural history has a permanent collection, the most famous item being the original Magdeburg Rider, and shows temporary exhibitions on historical themes, middle ages and early modern. The museum is ambitious and their exhibitions are usually very good. Check on their website if there is anything on.

Unfortunately their English website has not been updated since 2006. The German version is up to date, though.