A weekend in Braunschweig

Braunschweig as a destination? Yes. Absolutely! There is much to discover in the city of Lower Saxony, especially for outdoor fans.

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#1. Brunswick as a destination?

Braunschweig – that was for me always VW industry, a mid-fine town center and everything somehow colorless. Anyway, the city called out these pictures in my head. But then I heard that you can paddle in the middle of the city on the Oker. That there are wonderful museums. And when I saw pictures of a half-timbered city, it was clear to me: I have to go to Braunschweig. After all, this city is just under an hour’s train drive away and scores with a lot of sights.

The Magniviertel offers timbered beauty.

# 2. Attractions in Brunswick

Old Town

I start in the middle of the pedestrian zone. In the street Langer Hof it smells wonderfully waffles, people strolling with shopping bags packed past me. In front of me the cathedral raises its twin towers. City guide Rainer Feuge sits comfortably on a timbered beam and lets his legs dangle. Somehow he will shape my Braunschweig image, because I take two impressions from the city with me: the people are relaxed. And somehow very different than in Hannover. They are not hectic and lousy in the area around, but let the dangling relaxed legs. Ever a point for Brunswick.

The square in front of the cathedral

# 3. city tour

Rainer Feuge leads his small tour group to Burgplatz and quickly takes away all my illusions. For what I have stored as so pretty old, is a real deception, the ensemble around the castle does not come from the Middle Ages, as it seems, but was built at the beginning of the 20th century in the style of historicism.

Our relaxed city guide

The ensemble around Dankwarderode Castle is new and by no means as medieval as it seems. The guide draws our attention to things we might not have found or at least knew without him.

Present and yet only one copy – the Braunschweiger Löwe.

# 4. The Brunswick Lion

First there is the Braunschweig Lion. The city’s landmark is reminiscent of a similar lion in front of the Imperial Palace of Goslar. The figure in front of the Brunswick Castle is only a replica. The original statue from around 1166 is protected from exhaust fumes and acid rain in Dankwarderode Castle. The statue, which Henry the Lion built in the middle of the 12th century as a symbol of his power, is a testament to high craftsmanship. That the profiling urge of former rulers has produced art objects and architectural masterpieces at its finest has not only been evident since Versailles, Notre Dame or Neuschwanstein Castle. For such purposes, the best craftsmen and artists of the time were commissioned and often created groundbreaking works. Thus, the Braunschweig Lion is the first free-standing large sculpture north of the Alps, which did not originate in the ecclesiastical context. Once the bronze statue was even gilded.

Pretty is the half-timbered ensemble opposite the cathedral.

# 5. Cathedral and cathedral square

The cathedral square enchants with its cobblestones and half-timbered houses. If you’re there, you should definitely make a detour to the Cathedral of St. Blasii, it’s worth it. The three-nave sacred building, which was begun in 1173, attracts attention from the outside with its towers: “They were not finished,” says Feuge during a guided tour through Brunswick. In addition to the scratch marks, which supposedly come from a lion, the lion portal of the building and the enclosed cannonball in the wall on the east portal, especially the interior of the cathedral is interesting: There are not only artistic Secco paintings in the sanctuary, but also the Tomb of Henry the Lion and the famous seven-branched candelabrum.

The seven-branched candlestick in Brunswick Cathedral is huge.

The altar area in Brunswick Cathedral with its frescoes.

# 6. Old Town market

At Braunschweig’s old town market several buildings fall to our eye. The Old Town Hall dates back to the 13th century and is one of the oldest town halls in Germany. With the Martinikirche and the Gewandhaus the place is a structurally beautiful ensemble.

Weekly market on Saturday and Wednesday (8-13 clock)

The Gewandhaus at the Altmarkt.

# 7. coal market

Among the beautiful places of Braunschweig is the Kohlmarkt. Here, it is worth taking a look at the beautiful facades of the houses, such as the houses for the star, the sun or the rose.

The beautiful facades of the houses of the Kohlmarkt.

#8th. Kemenaten in Brunswick

The Jacob Kemenate houses new and old ensemble in impressive simplicity. The medieval Kemenate, a simple stone building, was supplemented with a modern addition of stainless steel.

The Kemenate impresses with its modern architecture.

Once upon a time there was the oldest pawnshop in Germany. In 2006, the ensemble, which today functions as a cultural center, was created from the Kemenate, which was destroyed during the Second World War. Eiermarkt 3 is located on Hagenbrücke 5 and Reichsstraße 36.

# 9. synagogue

The synagogue in Braunschweig was rebuilt.

Around the front of the building bends and adapts to the street: on the Knochenhauer Straße the building reminds of horrors and incidents during the Nazi era. The original synagogue from 1873 was badly damaged during the pogrom night of 1938 and demolished two years later. In 2006, the new building was inaugurated for the reborn Jewish community in Braunschweig. (Stone road 4th)

The Magni-Church in Braunschweig.

# 10. Magniviertel

Brunswick is always mentioned in the same breath as the Magniviertel. The district around the Magni Church is actually one of the most attractive in the city. This is not only due to the beautiful half-timbered houses, but above all to the colorful mix of restaurants, cafes and shops there. In the Magniviertel are many small shops beyond the mass-produced and cafes such as the Ethiopian coffee roasting, in which much is still done by hand.

On the way in the Michaelisviertel.

Antique store in Magni-Vertel.

# 11. Michaelis quarter

More impressive than the Magniviertel but I found the Michaelisviertel, because it had even more insider tip character with its pretty half-timbered streets and the spruced-up facades. However, there are not as many shopping and rest stops there as in the Magniviertel. My absolute tip there is the small café By Netta in the Prinzenstraße.

Happy-Rizzi-House: It makes good mood with pop art.

# 12. Happy Rizzi House

Other cities have a Hundertwasserhaus, Brunswick has the Rizzi house. Designed by James Rizzi, the pop art artist, it’s just a good mood factor in the city. I could not get enough of the house the longer I looked, the more laughing faces, hearts or eyes I discovered. The house, which was built on the occasion of the World Expo 2000, today serves as the administrative headquarters of the Braunschweig fashion company New Yorker. Unfortunately, it is therefore only from the outside to visit. (Ackerhof 1)

# 13. Café cloister & Monastery Riddagshausen

The St. Ulrici Brothers Church dates back to 1544, it was once a Franciscan monastery church but was badly damaged in World War II. The cloister, the sacristy and a chapel have been preserved and today offer an extraordinary place: A café as an oasis in the hectic city. My blogger colleague Ilona from the blog Wanderd discovered, tested and loved the café. Ilona has also found something else beautiful in Braunschweig: Kloster Riddagshausen seems to be a pretty interesting place, beyond the city bustle. Click here for Ilona’s report.

Ideal for paddling is Braunschweig’s river, the Oker.

# 14. Bürgerpark and Oker

My favorite place in Braunschweig was clearly the river: Braunschweig is located on the Oker and this river is an integral part of city life. Whether the Okercabana as a café with its 5000 square meter area of sandy beach, equipped with beach chairs and playgrounds, or the canoe rentals, the paddling on the Oker allow – the river was my favorite place in the city. The beach section called Okercabana is located in the Bürgerpark of Braunschweig. If you do not want to go to the café, you will also find great places in other places to enjoy the view of the water.

In the Bürgerpark of Braunschweig ducks can be observed.

# 15. The people of Brunswick

I especially noticed the people in Braunschweig. While in other parts of Lower Saxony they often seem rather harsh or taciturn, I have come across the Brunswicks very openly. They liked to look for contact, to hold a little plush and to add little jokes to the conversation. This reminded me a lot of the people of the Ruhr, who have a similar sense of humor and a similar openness.

Brunswick is beautiful even when it rains.

# 16. Brunswick’s history and economy

Brunswick was first documented in 1031 as Brunesguik. But already in the 9th century the area around the Magniviertel was already settled. Around 1130 Braunschweig got the city rights. Only a short time later, Henry the Lion of Brunswick expanded his residence city (around 1144) and brought it to its heyday. He had the cathedral and castle Dankwarderode built. Brunswick became the important seat of government of the Welfs.

Tomb of Henry the Lion, he wears a model of the cathedral in his hand.

A really dark chapter for Brunswick is the Nazi era, because the city center was destroyed to 90 percent. Braunschweig is, according to city guide Rainer Feuge, the most bombed-out city in Germany during the Second World War. “Even more has been destroyed here than in Dresden.” Only a lot fewer people died in Braunschweig because the city had 24 air raid bunkers. The reason why Braunschweig was so bombed out is simply because of the location: the planes headed for the Ruhr area and Berlin, and Braunschweig was on the track. In addition, the city’s industrial and defense factories made it a frequent target of the attacks.

In the Ethiopian Café.

Today, Braunschweig is one of the cities that is economically better off than average. One reason for this is the company VW, whose financial management is located in Brunswick. The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt has its headquarters there and centrally controls the clocks in Germany with its atomic clocks by sending the signal for the radio clocks.

# 17. My conclusion

more than

you would

And what

# 18. Location, events, numbers to Brunswick

Braunschweig is located in the federal state of Lower Saxony and has almost 250,000 inhabitants. Football club of the city is Eintracht Braunschweig. Among the most important events in Braunschweig is the Christmas market with its more than 300-year-old tradition. On Sunday before Rosenmontag the carnival parade Schoduvel takes place, the largest in northern Germany. Among the most important events include the Film Festival, the medieval market at Pentecost, on the first weekend of September invites the city to the Magnifest.

Trams connect the city center and provide good connections.

# 19. Getting there

Brunswick is very accessible by train. The ICE from Berlin to Frankfurt stops every two hours in the city. From Hannover, the city can be reached via an IC or by regional train.

Fachwerk in Brunswick.

Disclosure: The research in Braunschweig took place as part of the Blogger WG. The research sponsored Braunschweig-Stadtmarketing.

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