Werther (Westfalen) is the original home to the famous butterscotch toffee known around the world as Werther’s Original or Werther’s Echte.
Sweets aside, Werther is a solid German town at the Teutoburg Forest. Don’t confuse the town with the opera Werther based on a novel by Johann Goethe, though, or the other Werther in Thuringia.
It’s a fun loving place that celebrates a Bierfest at the end of July, a City Festival (called KuKuK) on the 2nd weekend in May, and a Christkindlmarkt on the 3rd weekend in Advent. To translate the latter to English, that’s a Christmas Market that happens 2 or 3 weeks before Christmas.
Come to Werther the weekend before Easter for something completely different; that’s when the Schloss Open takes place. No, it’s not a tennis match or a golf game (there IS a golf course here, though, if you like to play), it’s a chess tournament.
When not drinking, shopping, or thinking “check mate” the town has some wonderful framework buildings to see. Many were built way back in the 17th and 18th centuries; the Venghauss’sche Haus on Ravensberger Road is one of ’em.
One of the oldest buildings in town is Haus Werther, a manor house that’s been here since 1295. No longer a home for local Counts, everyone gets to enjoy the place since it’s a local meeting center and library.
If you want an old church to wander around in, then St. Jacob’s Church is it. Here’s a chance to see a real 14th century Gothic church up close and personal. I’m not taking anything away from the town’s Protestant Parish Church, that’s lovely — just not as old.
Werther only has a couple of museums and if you’re an Impressionist art lover than the Peter-August-Böckstiegel-Haus (Schlossstraße 111) is great. This is his home town and the house where he was born has exhibits of his work.
There’s also an Agricultural Museum with exhibits on farming life from the 1850’s through the 1950’s. Amazing to see how technology had changed within a century.
That’s only a small chunk of time for a town that celebrated its millennia in 2009. And be thankful that Bierfest and the Schloss Open don’t happen at the same time — might be a bit hard to concentrate! ;-)