Worms, Germany: Proof That Smaller Cities Can Be Full of History, Too.

One of the most interesting things about Worms, Germany, is that the Diet of Worms was held there.  The Diet was an assembly held in 1521 that addressed Martin Luther’s revolutionary works (such as ‘The 95 Theses’, ‘On the Papacy at Rome’, and ‘On the Freedom of a Christian’, to name a few).  After being questioned by the assembly and given a day to consider his response, Luther gave his famous “Here I Stand” speech that resulted in his excommunication from the church.  This is the often quoted part of his reply:

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen.

Source.

So when we arrived in Worms we made a beeline for the Lutherdenkmal (Luther Monument).

 

The cool thing about this monument is that it is actually the largest Reformation monument in the world.  Martin Luther is the center statue, and he’s surrounded by 11 people who were important figures during the Reformation.

 

There are 27 coats of arms on the perimeter of the statue for various towns that were important during the reformation.  Wittenberg was the German town where Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church.

 

The monument sums up a great amount of history through its statues, reliefs, and portraits (read more about it here).

Across the street from the monument is the Heylshof Garden in Worms, where the Diet of Worms was held.  The Stiftung Kunsthaus Heylshof Museum is in front of the gardens, and the Dom Cathedral sits across the gardens from the museum.

If you visit, be sure to look for the plaque that marks the spot where Luther stood during the Diet.  And definitely take a moment to step inside the Dom afterwards.

 

After having our fill of church-related history we wanted to see a different kind of tourist attraction, so we set out for the Neo-Romanesque tower that sits on top of the Nibelungen Bridge.  The tower is over 100 years old and stands 53 meters tall (that’s 173 ish ft).

 

There used to be two of them, but one was destroyed during WWII.

 

When we passed through the bottom of the tower we saw an open door and took the spiral steps all the way up (amid much huffing and puffing from yours truly).

 

We enjoyed the view and then met a few workers who kindly told us that we weren’t allowed to be there – the tower is a private facility used mostly for youth events.  Although we didn’t mean to break the rules, I’m glad we got the experience of climbing the tower.  Where’s the ‘verboten’ sign when you need one?

This tower is one of only 13 surviving bridge towers in Europe, and nine of them are located in Germany.  Very cool!  Now I want to find another one to climb (with permission, of course).

It was starting to rain but we had one more thing to see in Worms: Europe’s oldest Jewish cemetery.  Named “Holy Sands”, the cemetery dates back to the eleventh century and has 2500 graves.

 

It was used by the Jewish community in Worms until 1942.  Walking on the paths was an incredibly sobering experience that we won’t soon forget.   We noticed that most of the tombstones had rocks or notes piled on them.

 

According to My Jewish Learning, there are different historical reasons for the tradition of placing stones on Jewish graves, including:

• The graves were marked with stones so that Jewish priests, who would become ritually impure if they came within four feet of a corpse, could keep their distance from a grave.
• The stones are supposed to keep a soul in the grave or keep unwanted spirits out.
• Stones symbolize permanency and community.

Wow.  I really enjoy seeing cemeteries.  It might be a strange thing to enjoy, but most German cemeteries are full of history and lessons to be learned.

We only spent three hours in the city and we got to experience three sites that taught us a lot about the history of Worms.  I have so much respect and awe for this German city.  It has encouraged me to try to visit some other reformation sites – especially when Mr. Meena’s parents come to town in May!

A fun fact we learned as a result of this trip: If you are German then you can pronounce the name of this city like “Vorms”, but if you aren’t German then you will just confuse people by doing so, and you should say “Worms” like they expect you to.

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