What to See in Bad Hersfeld - Top Sights and Attractions

The Protestant town church stands in the old town of Bad Hersfeld. Its distinctive steeple is the town's landmark.

The town church is a Gothic three-nave, high-vaulted hall church. The hall has four bays with flared, eight-sided pillars. The two-bay choir ends with a polygonal apse with 5/8 closure.

The history of the town church begins with the construction of the Romanesque market basilica around the year 1060. This building was then rebuilt and expanded over the next 420 years into the Gothic church building as it still stands today. The exterior has remained almost unchanged since then. The interior was significantly altered by Calvinist iconoclasts and by at least two major fires.

The Abbey Ruins in Bad Hersfeld are the ruins of the collegiate church of the former Hersfeld Abbey in Bad Hersfeld. It is considered one of the largest Romanesque basilicas north of the Alps and is now the largest Romanesque church ruin in the world. The collegiate church and most of the monastery buildings were destroyed in 1761 during the Seven Years' War.

The Lullusfest is one of the oldest folk festivals in Germany. It is celebrated on the approximately 1.3-hectare market square and on parts of the approximately 0.5-hectare adjacent Linggplatz square in downtown Bad Hersfeld. The festival has been held every year since 852 during the week of October 16 and is also known as Bad Hersfeld's "fifth season." The number of visitors is 500,000 per year.

Johann Baptist Georg Fidelius Lingk or Lingg, since 1827 Lingg von Linggenfeld was a lieutenant general of the Grand Ducal Baden hunter battalion "Lingg". He became known as "The Man of Hersfeld" as a defender of the town of Hersfeld against the French.

Tower

Tower