The Romanesque Route

Monasteries, churches and sacral treasures – Romanesque in the Altmark

"The Romanesque Route" runs like a big figure eight from Arendsee to Zeitz through the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. In the middle of Germany, in the heartland of German history, numerous witnesses of medieval life have been preserved in the castles, cathedrals, monasteries, field and brick churches. Anyone setting out to discover the art of the "God's architects" in the churches, will dive into the symbolic world of their builders after a short time. The Altmark is a unique cultural landscape in this respect. The church building of the Middle Ages under the influence of the Ascanian rulers still defines the appearance of many villages and towns today. It is the expression of a long and eventful history set in stone.
 
Of the more than 400 churches in the Altmark, half date from the Romanesque period. Romanesque churches have otherwise only survived in such a density in the Rhineland, where a dense network of abbey, village and pilgrimage churches for Christian missionary work was established from Cluny Monastery to beyond Burgundy.