During this tour, you’ll visit significant towns and places associated with Martin Luther and the Reformation. Along the way, you’ll also encounter many places that played a role in the life of Johann Sebastian Bach, who lived two centuries after Martin Luther, but whose music impacts the Lutheran church to this day. Our headquarters for much of the trip will be Leipzig, the largest city in the German state of Saxony, and place where Martin Luther and J.S. Bach left their mark.
We’ll explore Nuremberg and trace the impact of Protestantism that continues to impact the city to this day. A day trip to Augsburg will take us to the site of the Augustana Confession in 1530 and the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 where Holy Roman Emperor Charles V granted Lutheranism official status.
The trip concludes with a stay in Mainz, hometown of Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press, which had a direct impact on the spread of Lutheranism in the 16thcentury. We’ll take an excursion to Worms ,where Martin Luther was ruled a heretic in 1520 and ended up hiding in the Wartburg fortress.
July 1, 2024
Depart Atlanta for FrankfurtDay
July 2, 2024
Upon arrival in Frankfurt and claiming luggage, we’ll board a train from the airport station headed for Leipzig, which will become our headquarters for the first half of the trip. After checking into our hotel, there will be time for an introductory walking tour of the central part of the city, where Martin Luther preached and J.S. Bach served as music director for nearly 3 decades.
July 3, 2024
Today’s excursion takes us to Lutherstadt Wittenberg, home of the Reformation. We’ll see the Schlosskirche where Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses, as well as the Stadtkirche, where Luther preached numerous times. In addition, we’ll tour the homes of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchton, who worked closely with Luther on many aspects of the Reformation, including drafting the Augsburg Confession presented at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530.
July 4, 2024
The lovely city of Eisenach is today’s focus, where we’ll tour the Wartburg, where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German during his time in hiding after being declared a heretic at the Diet of Worms in 1521. Eisenach is also the hometown of J.S. Bach, so we’ll visit the homes of both men, who lived two centuries apart.
July 5, 2024
A visit to Erfurt, capital of the state of Thüringen, is where Luther enrolled in seminary and spent many of his formative years. We’ll also explore the Merchant’s Bridge and the Old Synagogue in addition to sites frequented by Luther and Bach. We’ll return to Leipzig and visit the Thomaskirche, where J.S. Bach was the music director for nearly 3 decades and where he is buried. The world famous Thomaner boys choir is based at the Thomaskirche. The St. Nikolaikirche was also frequented by both men and played a major role in recent German history as the site where the Monday demonstrations began that ended up in the Peaceful Revolution on 1989 and the reunification of Germany.
July 6, 2024
Two half-day excursions today will take us to Eisleben and Torgau. Martin Luther took his first and last breaths in this small city, and we’ll visit both his birth house and death house. In the afternoon we’ll venture to Torgau, where Martin Luther designed the first dedicated protestant church in the Castle Hartenfels. Torgau is also the site where American and Russian troops met on the Elbe River at the end of World War II in April of 1945.
July 7, 2024
We depart Leipzig this morning to explore the beautiful city of Nürnberg, the first major city to adopt what was to become Lutheranism and helped to spread protestant ideas because of its role as a major trade center. We’ll overnight in Nuremberg.
July 8, 2024
Today features an excursion to the city of Augsburg, a city of major importance for the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th century. Two Diets of Augsburg held by Charles V made a tremendous impact on Lutheranism: the Diet of 1530, during which Charles V heard the 28 points of the Augsburg Confession (Augustana Confession) and the Diet of 1555, where Lutheranism was legally recognized an accepted in the Holy Roman Empire. We’ll also visit the oldest subsidized housing community in the world, the Fuggerei, before returning to Nuremberg.
July 9, 2024
Today’s travel takes us to Mainz, the home of Johannes Gutenberg and home of the printing press. We’ll tour the Gutenberg Museum and it’s two copies of the original Gutenberg Bible, as well as the cathedral, market square and St. Stephen’s church with its beautifully blue windows designed by Marc Chagall in the 19770s.
July 10, 2024
Today’s excursion will take us to the lovely small city of Marburg, site of the oldest Protestant university in the world. We’ll take in the castle on top of the hill as well as the picturesque old town filled with half-timbered houses.
July 11, 2024
Our Luther tour concludes in the city of Worms, where Martin Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms in1521 and was forced into hiding at the Wartburg. We’ll tour the St. Peter’s Cathedral and take in the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe before heading back to Mainz for our final night in Germany.
July 12, 2024
Depart Frankfurt for Atlanta
Prices starting at $3,000 plus airfare.