The small town of Lützen is located in the south of the state of Saxony-Anhalt at an altitude of 121 m in a very flat landscape. The Battle of Lützen took place here in the Thirty Years' War, which killed the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf and completely devastated the city. In May 1813, the first battle of the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon took place near Großgörschen, 6 km southeast of Lützen. The Röcken district is the birthplace of the world-famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Castle
Lützen Castle was built by the Merseburg bishops at the
end of the 13th century. Since 1928 it has housed the City and
Regional History Museum. This reminds us of the two battles near
Lützen that were important in world politics. This is the Battle of
Lützen in 1632, in which the legendary King of Sweden, Gustav II
Adolf, lost his life. A large diorama with 3,600 pewter figures
shows the battle. The other is the Battle of Großgörschen in 1813,
which is represented in an even larger diorama (5,500 pewter
figures). Another exhibition in the museum is dedicated to the poet
and writer Johann Gottfried Seume. The building also houses the
historical city archive.
Gustav Adolf Memorial
The
memorial is dedicated to the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf, who fell
during the Battle of Lützen. As early as 1632, the year of death, a
large boulder was erected as the first monument at the place of
death. In 1837, the cast-iron canopy designed by Karl Friedrich
Schinkel was inaugurated, which was erected over the so-called
"Schwedenstein". In 1907, the Gustav Adolf Chapel, donated by the
Swedish Consul Oskar Ekman and his wife Maria, was added. Two more
typical Swedish wooden houses followed later. The occasional claim
that the property belongs to the Swedish state or is even
extraterritorial territory is a modern legend. In fact, the memorial
was operated from 1932 to the mid-1990s by the private Swedish
Stiftelsen Lützenfonden (Lützenstiftung), based in Gothenburg. Since
then, the foundation and the city of Lützen have been jointly
responsible for the upkeep.
Gustav Adolf Memorial Church in
Meuchen
The originally Romanesque church in Meuchen was built in
the 15th and 16th centuries. Century rebuilt in Gothic style and
redesigned in 1912 as a Gustav Adolf memorial church. Behind the
altar is an old wooden table, on which the body of Gustav II Adolf
is said to have been lying during the cleansing. A stained glass
window and a bronze relief of the Swedish king are other exhibits.
Monuments to the Battle of Großgörschen in 1813
The
Scharnhorst Monument, the Schinkel Pyramid, the Prince Leopold of
Hesse-Homburg Monument and the Marshal Ney House are the most
important monuments commemorating the battle.
Lützen Town
Hall
The town hall was built in 1884/1885 in the Neo-Renaissance
style. The meeting room, the mayor's office and three prison cells
have been preserved from the original furnishings. A statue of
Gustav Adolf adorns the west side of the town hall.
Other
memorials
Nietzsche memorial in Röcken
Memorial stone from
1946 on the site of the sugar factory to commemorate twelve Soviet
prisoners of war who were victims of forced labor here
Memorial
from 1951 in the castle park (Thälmannpark in GDR times) for those
persecuted by the Nazi regime by the sculptor Gerhard Lichtenfeld
from Halle
City Church of St. Viti in Lützen
The
construction of the late Gothic church of St. Viti Lützen began in
1488 on the site of a previous Romanesque building from the 13th
century. In 1513 the church was consecrated. Construction of the
tower began in 1513 and was completed in 1531. After a lightning
strike in 1778, the initially 77 m high tower was shortened by 10 m.
Animal enclosure in Martzschpark
Animal enclosure: Deer,
aurochs, donkeys, ornamental birds and various small animals can be
seen in the approximately 32-hectare area. The natural enclosure is
a popular place for excursions, which is in the immediate vicinity
of the Gustav Adolf Memorial on the B87 and has sufficient parking
spaces.
By plane
Leipzig Halle Airport (LEJ) is 25km north of Lützen. But
there is no reasonable connection with public transport. A taxi takes
about 20 minutes and costs €40-45.
By train
The rail
connection from Lützen has been shut down. The nearest operational train
stations are Markranstädt (Leipzig-Naumburg-Erfurt; 8 km away, 17
minutes by bus) and Bad Dürrenberg (9 km away, 21 minutes by bus). Both
are served hourly on the RE line Leipzig–Naumburg (–Erfurt or
–Jena–Saalfeld).
By bus
Bus line 165 from Regionalbus Leipzig
GmbH runs every hour on weekdays in the mornings and afternoons, and
only three times a day on weekends, from the train station in
Markranstädt (connection from Leipzig) to Lützen (timetable) and back.
Bus line 742 of the PNVG Merseburg-Querfurt runs (weekdays) six
times a day from Merseburg and nine times a day from Bad Dürrenberg to
Lützen (partly so-called on-call buses, i.e. the journey must be
registered at least one hour before the start of the journey on
03462-83263 ). On Saturdays there are only four buses from Bad
Dürrenberg, on Sundays three (all call buses) and no direct buses from
Merseburg. See timetable.
From Weißenfels, bus line 781 of the
PVG Burgenlandkreis runs six to seven times a day on weekdays, once on
Saturdays, twice on Sundays to Röcken and Lützen (timetable; on weekends
only on-call buses, register at 0391-5363180). The MDV tariff applies to
all buses.
On the street
Lützen can be reached via the Symbol:
AS 2 Lützen junction of the same name on the A 38 Göttingen–Leipzig
(–Dresden) motorway. Not far to the west, the A 38 crosses the
north-south autobahn A 9 Berlin-Munich at the Rippachtal junction.
Coming from the north, you can also leave the A 9 at the Bad Dürrenberg
junction, from where the L 184 leads directly to Lützen.
You can
get to Lützen via the B 87 from Leipzig and Weißenfels.
By
bicycle
Lützen is located on the Elster-Saale cycle path (a railway
cycle path) between Leipzig (Kulkwitzer See) and Weißenfels. From
Kulkwitzer See on the western edge of Leipzig it is 11 km to Lützen;
from Weißenfels (connection to the Saale cycle path) it is 15 km. In
addition, the brine-coal history cycle path leads from the Geiseltalsee
(Braunbedra) via Bad Dürrenberg (crossing with the Saale cycle path) to
Lützen (almost 30 km in total).
The actual Lützen is a small town where everything is within walking distance. However, if you also want to visit the incorporated districts (e.g. Röcken), you need a car, bicycle or the bus, which only runs sporadically. Between Markt in Lützen and Röcken, bus lines 781 or 784 run about every hour on weekdays, and only a few buses a day on weekends.
The nova eventis shopping center is 13km away at the symbol exit: AS 17 Leipzig-West of the A9
1 Restaurant "Red Lion", Ernst-Thälmann-Str. 9. Tel: +49 (0)34444
23332, Fax: (0)34444 23332 .
2 Tavern Santorini, Mühlenstrasse 4,
06686 Lützen. Tel: (0)34444 900740. Greek restaurant. Open: daily 11:30
a.m. – 2:30 p.m. + 5:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Schlosscafé, in Lützen
Castle.
3 Eisbär ice cream parlour, Schloßstraße 17, 06686 Lützen.
Tel: (0)34444 22393, Fax: (0)34444 90670. There is also a wide range of
pizzas and pasta. Open: 1 p.m. – 8 p.m.
1 Landhaus Fleischhauer, Starsiedeler Str. 2. Tel.: (0)34444 20495.
2 Pension Köper am Rathaus, Ernst-Thälmann-Str. 25. Tel: (0)34444 306-0.
1 Castle Pharmacy, Markt 2, 06686 Lützen. Tel.: (0)34444 23350, fax:
(0)34444 23351, e-mail: schloss.apotheke@t-online.de. Open: Mon - Fri 8
a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
2 Adler Pharmacy,
Ernst-Thälmann-Str. 19, 06686 Lützen. Tel.: (0)34444 90521, fax:
(0)34444 90522, e-mail: adler-apotheke-luetzen@t-online.de. Open: Mon -
Fri 8 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sat 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Geographically, Lützen belongs to the Leipzig lowland bay. The city is about 10 kilometers southwest of the city limits of Leipzig on the federal highway 87, which leads from Weißenfels via Lützen and Markranstädt to Leipzig. In addition, Lützen is connected to the A 9 motorway via the Bad Dürrenberg junction (approx. 5 km away) and to the A 38 via the Lützen junction (approx. 1 km away).
The town of Lützen had belonged to the sphere of influence of the
Bishopric of Merseburg since the 13th century and was the seat of the
episcopal office of Lützen. Through the secularization of the diocese of
Merseburg, the city of Lützen and the office of Lützen became part of
the Electorate of Saxony.
In the 1580s, the region was plagued by
epidemics, such as an epidemic of encephalitis in 1583 and the plague in
1585. After the executioner had also fallen victim to it in late summer,
his servant accused the dead bearer Melchior Schimpf of using the right
thumb of the deceased Flexing the palms of your hands while mumbling
something unintelligible. Because of this unmistakable indication of
plague magic, the city court determined against Schimpf. The
investigators also focused on his wife Ursula because she was able to
alleviate the suffering of plague sufferers with an unknown root. Under
torture, Melchior Schimpf not only confessed to having bent his thumb
into the palm of many other dead people, but also to the corpse of a
deceased girl with the magic formula "I'll stick you in all devils took
uff 200 people who are supposed to die afterwards". putting a cloth in
his mouth causing 200 more people to die from the plague. His wife, who
is a witch, instigated him. The torture forced him to confess to the
devil's philandering and to participate in the witches' sabbath. She
also confessed to having boiled the plague boils of dead people with the
heads of rabbits and weasels and pouring the broth into houses to kill
people. The couple were sentenced and burned at the stake on November
10, 1585.
In 1621 the city had a tipper mint, in which interim
coins (tipper coins) were probably struck under mint master Wilhelm
Quendel. Known are single and double Kipper-Schreckenberger with the
mintmaster's mark "cross of four L".
Lützen was the scene of the
Battle of Lützen in 1632, one of the main battles of the Thirty Years'
War. The Swedish king Gustav II Adolf fell in this battle. A chapel and
a monument commemorate the king. Since Napoleon spent the night before
the Battle of Großgörschen (May 2, 1813) at the memorial stone for
Gustav Adolf, surrounded by his troops, it is sometimes also referred to
as the Battle of Lützen.
After the defeat of Napoleon and his
allied Kingdom of Saxony, the Kingdom of Saxony had to cede a large part
of its territory to the Kingdom of Prussia by decision of the Congress
of Vienna in 1815. The Office of Lützen was shared. The larger western
part with the town of Lützen was annexed to the Prussian province of
Saxony (Merseburg district in the administrative district of Merseburg),
while the smaller eastern part came under the Saxon office of Leipzig.
Until the administrative reform of the GDR in 1952, Lützen belonged
to the district of Merseburg. The town then belonged to the Weißenfels
district in the Halle district and from 1990 to the state of
Saxony-Anhalt. From 1994 Lützen belonged to the district of Weißenfels.
After the second district reform in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Lützen
has been in the Burgenland district since 2007.
On June 1, 1973, Meuchen was incorporated.
On July 1, 2009, the
previously independent municipality of Röcken was incorporated.
On January 1, 2010, the town of Lützen was formed from the merger of
Lützen with the previously independent communities of Großgörschen,
Muschwitz, Poserna, Rippach and Starsiedel.
On January 1, 2011,
the municipalities of Dehlitz, Sössen and Zorbau were incorporated.
According to the 2011 census, 16% of the residents are Evangelical
and regional, 2% Roman Catholic.
The evangelical churches in
Bothfeld, Dehlitz, Großgörschen, Großgöhren, Kleingörschen, Lützen,
Meuchen, Pobles, Pörsten, Poserna, Röcken, Starsiedel and Treben form
the Lützener Land parish in the Merseburg church district of the
Evangelical Church in Central Germany. The churches in Gerstewitz,
Nellschütz and Zorbau belong to the Weißenfels-Südost parish in the same
church district. The churches in Göthewitz and Muschwitz are assigned to
the parish of Hohenmölsen in the church district of Naumburg-Zeitz.
The Sole-Kohle-History cycle path leads via Bad Dürrenberg to the
Geiseltalsee.
The paved Elster-Saale cycle path runs along the
embankment of the disused Leipzig-Plagwitz-Pörsten railway line to the
outskirts of Leipzig in Lausen.
There are four schools in Lützen, the Free Comprehensive School Gustav Adolf and elementary schools in Lützen, Großgöhren and Großgörschen. Until 1999 there was the Gustav-Adolf-Gymnasium in Lützen, which had to close due to insufficient student numbers.
TSV Eintracht Lützen
1. Lützen Carnival Club 1985 e. V
Lützen
has a future e. V
Privileged Schützengilde Lützen 1608 e. V
VfB
Scharnhorst Großgörschen 1932 e. V
Friends of the Marshal Ney House
in Kaja e. V
Scharnhorst committee Großgörschen e. V
Small Animal
Breeders Association Großgörschen e. V
Campus Lützen e.V.
Friends
of local history and museum Lützen e.V.