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Vacation 2016August 28, CoburgVeste Coburg |
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| Coburg | Dukes of Merania |
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| Veste Coburg, the Coburg Fortress towers majestically over the court yard and pretty much over all of Coburg. The fortress is one of the largest in Germany and almost 900 years old; first mentioned in a document dating back to 1225, when the Dukes of Merania controlled the area. |
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| Past the church of St. Augustin, we started climbing up 550 feet from the town to the fortress. |
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| The closer we got, the more impressive the fortress looked. |
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| Like all medieval fortresses, this one too has extremely thick walls. |
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An important mile stone in the history if the fortress was the presence of
reformer
Martin Luther in 1530. Seized with an
Imperial ban since 1521, Luther was not able to attend the Imperial
Diet of Augsburg. Duke Johann the Steadfast granted him asylum and Luther spent 6 months at the Veste, working on his new doctrine and continuing his Bible translation. The work Luther did at the Veste during this crucial phase of the history of the Reformation is of outstanding importance. A plaque with Luther's picture commemorates his stay. The plaque displays Psalm 118:17: Non moriar sed vivam et narrabo opera Domini (I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD). |
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Two of the main attractions are the old bear pit (above) and several artillery displays (below). In 1900 (picture left) most of the displays were in
a museum in the main building. Bears were held at the Veste from the mid-1800s until 1916. The bear on display ended his days here in 1867. The artillery display ranges from stone canon balls used in the 15th century to canons built in the 19th century. |
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During its 600 years of military history, the fortress has never been taken by enemy forces. Only once, in 1536, during the
Thirty Years' War,
Imperial Army general
Guillaume de Lamboy took the fortress after a five-months siege, using
a faked letter in which Duke
Johann Ernst allegedly ordered its surrender. In 1820, the building ceased being a military installation and became a museum. |
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Click the left turn sign to get back to Ehrenburg Pallace. Or click the right turn signal to move on to The Luther Chapel and the upper part of the Fortress. |
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