Let me start with giving thanks to the volcano on which the town of Amöneburg now sits; thanks for no longer spewing magma and lava, thus creating the town you see today.
I’m willing to bet the Stone Age and Celts who called this place home are thankful too. ;-)
I guess from that last sentence you can guess the area of Amöneburg has been around a long, long time. And you’d think not all that much can be found from its prehistoric days, but that’s not true. Amöneburg has a wonderful Prehistory Museum, filled with all sorts of exhibits.
There are also a good number of historical places to see around town — none probably better than the ruins of Burg Amöneburg. The pieces of the castle you see today date from the mid-12th century, a mighty fortress found along the Ohm River, destroyed during the Seven Years War in the 1700s. However, a fortification had been on the spot a thousand years prior — and St. Boniface himself used it himself to teach Christianity to the surrounding villagers.
Amöneburg’s religious history doesn’t end there. You really should see the Magdalenenkapelle, a 14th century chapel ruin that sadly didn’t fare too well during the 17th century Thirty Years’ War; a war that totally deserted the village of Lindau where it sits.
Oh, and I couldn’t leave out telling you about the St. Johannes der Täufer Church, a grand neo-Gothic basilica, or the Baroque Church in the village of Roßdorf, built by a mass grave from said Seven Years War.
You’d think with all the devastation and war, Amöneburg might’ve lost its sense of jovial fun — but it hasn’t. Two of its biggest events are its Mardorfer Kermes (held the first weekend of October), the Erfurtshausener Kirchweihfest, held on the second weekend of July, and yet another Kirchweihfest at the end of August.
Hey, it’s all in good fun — and I’m pretty sure even St. Boniface would approve of Amöneburg today. ;-)
