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wi th scu lp tures , theuppermost representingthe four facult ies oftheology, law, medicine,and philosophy. The tower,with its slanted windowsand spiral staircase,displays the Duke´s coat-of-arms consisting of 11pieces. Above the mainentrance we find theuniversity´s coat-of-arms “Simson and the Lions”, while thesurrounding figures represent (from left) music, grammar,arithmetics, geometry and astronomy, as five of the seven“free arts”.On the ground floor is the Auditorium Maximum. The libraryhall upstairs, with a beautiful cantilever ceiling, still contains30.000 scientific volumes. The basement is converted into alocal museum worth seeing, the Kreis- undUniversitätsmuseum, with a large Renaissance fire-place.Formerly it was a students´ tavern. The courtyard is flankedby college buildings with annexed stairway towers, one ofthem with detention cell, and decorated with coats-of-arms.

We return via Colle-gienstraße. House no. 7,or ig ina l ly a farmer-citizen´s house with itsgateway st i l l recog-nizable, carries a plaquecommemorating Gior-dano Bruno. House no . 5is a fine example of astylish reconstruction in keeping with the old townscape.

Through Georgienstraßewe reach one of the oldestresidential houses in the oldtown, Schuhstraße 5. Thelate Gothic building has adated inscription saying:“Anno 1514, on the Mondayafter Cantate, this housewas made ready by MasterClaus Lindenberch”.

Back at the market square, we come to the slightly set backMayor´s House, residence of Mayor Cörner, with itspassageway dating back to 1681. The Latin inscription in itmeans: “Nothing can lead to more moderation in all thingsthan to consider how short life is and how insecure”. Wecomplete the tour at the house Markt 7, possibly the oldest

QuellenauswahlAsche, M. - Spaziergänge in Helmstedt, 1967Henze, I. - Ehemalige Universitätsstadt Helmstedt, 1976Schaper, R. - 1000 Jahre Helmstedt am Lappwald, 1973

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Some more points of interest outside the tour are: theProfessor´s House Ziegenmarkt 7, near the Juleum. It wasbuilt as a stone house in Renaissance style around 1630 andamply restorated in 1977. The church St. Walpurgis, whichwas reconstructed duringthe later Gothic period, incore goes back to abuilding of 1250, with thetower and the lower part oft h e l o n g h o u s e s t i l lpreserved. Then the wayleads to Langer Steinwegand on to Schützenwall andLanger Wall. Part of theformer ramparts, theremaining green moundsstill enclose most of the oldtown, and offer walkers apleasant footpath.

On Braunschweiger Straße, to the right, is the church andmonastery of St. Marienberg. Built in 1176 as an Augustinecanoness foundation, it was later converted into a protestantconvent. The Roman basilica was built with large squarestone blocks, and the main pediment has an arched frieze.The chancel is Gothic, only the western portal is rich inornaments with figures and intricate foliage to representChrist as the Vine. The tower´s foundation was intended to

support two towers, but thenonly one was put up, with aBaroque cap in timber framestructure. To the right andleft of the entrance there arechapels with frescoes fromthe second half of the 13thcentury. (Visitors obtain keyin the provost´s office fromTue, Thu, Fri 9 - 12 h andThu 15 - 17 h). From the

monastery garden we have access to the cloister, themonastery and to the parament workshop. Here, the clericalarts of weaving, embroidery and restoring are still carried onin traditional techniques. The treasury stores preciousmedieval paraments and wall rugs. Visitors are welcomeagainst free, groups in prior appointment (phone495351/6769). Vis-a-vis the church portal we see the“doorkeeper´s house” rebuilt with timbers from the previousstructure and with inscriptions of 1498.

Dru

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Tel. 0

5351 / 2

277

Kü

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Sightseeing Tours

the first Saturday from April to Octobermeeting point at the “Market Place” at 2.00 p.m.or by appointment

Opening Hours

Local Regional Museum Helmstedt, Juleum,tel. +49 5351 - 523 97 23 , +49 5351 - 121 11 32

Tue - Fri

Sat + Sun

10.00 a.m. -

3.00 p.m. -

12.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m.

5.00 p.m.

Julius-Bad (Indoor swimming pool),

Stobenstraße 34, tel.+49 5351 - 538 52 50

Monday

Tue - Fri

Saturday

Sunday

Closed

7.00 a.m. - 8.30 p.m.

1.00 p.m. - 6.00 p.m.

10.00 a.m. - 3.00 p.m.

winter half-year(September - May)

Opening hours for the summer half-year (May - September), pleasesee notification hanging out at the Julius-Bad.

Waldbad Birkerteich (Outdoor swimming pool)Maschweg, tel. +49 5351 - 35 63

Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri

Wen

Sat, Sun

7.00 a.m. - 8.00 p.m.

10.00 a.m. - 9.00 p.m.

8.00 a.m. - 8.00 p.m.

summer half-year(May - August)

Public Library, Stobenstraße 31, tel. +49 5351 - 54 36 45

Mon

Tue

Wed + Fri

Thu

Every first Sat. in a month 9.00 a.m. - 12.00 a.m.

10.00 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. 3.00 p.m. - 6.00 p.m.

10.00 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. 2.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.

closed

10.00 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. 3.00 p.m. - 6.00 p.m.

Border Zone Museum Helmstedt, Südertor 6, tel. +49 5351 - 121 11 33

Tue - Fri

Wednesday

Thursday

Sat + Sun

Closed on Mondays!

3.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m.

10.00 a.m. - 12.00 a.m.

3.00 p.m. - 6.30 p.m.

10.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.

Guidance after previous arrangement!

Closed on Mondays!Guidance after previous arrangement!

still existing residential andbusiness building of ourtown. It was originally built in1491 as a three-storey half-timbered structure on top ofthe basement of a still earlierbuilding, in which a ceilingbeam was found dating fromthe time of about 1250. Thenumbering marks in the beams indicate that the building maywell be the last remaining seventh part of a terracedhouses´row construction along the market.

In 1560 the house hadapparently become too small,so an extension of about twometres was added towards themarket front. In this way anarcade was created and artfullydecorated in keeping with thecontemporary Renaissancestyle.

The ceiling gives an idea of how much effort and creativitywent into the decorating works. Another unique testimony ofthis epoch is a beam decorated with huntingscenes. This type of ceiling ornamenting iscalled pressed stucco technique, as themotives were pressed into the wet limeplaster finish. Also worth seeing is thewonderfully restored cellar door as well as theformer fireplace with ist sooty black stones.

About 70 years later, another extension wasbuilt, this time adding 2,2 metres to the rear.But as the original building was kept intact, the result was akind of a “house inside a house” construction.

So the interior facade with itswell preserved Baroquewindow can now be admiredand is directly accessible via agallery along the second floorof the building.

The adjacent house, Markt 8,is, however, “modern” incomparison. It was built in

1908, its front sight meeting the of the beginningtwentieth century. As from June 2004, ist ground floor hasbeen set up as a tourist office providing information facilitiesfor visitors to the region.

Zeitgeist

S T A D T H E L M S T E D T

Tourist-Information / Bürgerbüro

Markt 1 - 38350 Helmstedt

tel. +49 53 51 - 17-1717

www.stadt-helmstedt.de

tourismus@stadt-helmstedt.deiA small tour

trough the oldest

part of the Town

www.elm-lappwald.de7. edition 9-2016 (subject to change)

A Small Tour Through The Oldest Part Of Helmstedt Start your tour here:

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The market square, an ancientcrossroads, is dominated bythe Townhall. It was built inNew Gothic style between1904 and 1906 to replace theformer building. The fountainvis-a-vis is made of local lumpquartzite. To the left of thefountain is the portal of theformer university church (until1810), now a commercialbuilding. Above its gate, we

see the university´s coat-of-arms showing “Simson with theLion”. The residential houses surrounding the square haveelaborate gables. To the right, at Papenberg 2 next to thepharmacy, the stately Courthouse dated 1567 belonged to

Duke Julius and served toaccommodate his courtierswhen on visit. In the upperpanels of the richly carvedfacade we recognize symbolsof the academic subjectstaught, such as rhetorics, geo-metry, dialectics, arithmetics,music, astronomy and gram-mar. Between the windowsfemale figures represent the vices and virtues. The lower rowcontains coats-of-arms of dukes and church and townnotables ruling during the construction period, as well as twoinscription borders with Bible verses in Latin. It is said to be themost beautiful house in Helmstedt.

Via Papenberg and Mag-deburger Straße we cross thecity wall and, across the mainroad we come to thereconst ruc tedTürkentorwhich used to be the entranceto the monas te r y S t .Ludgerus. In the old court-yard we see the imposingPigeon House. The convent

building, nowadays used as a catholic meeting place, isdecorated with splendid coats-of-arms on the outside, and itsinterior presents the “Emperor´s Hall” with magnificent stuccodecor of the Rococo period (open to visitors on workdaysbetween 10-17 hours upon prior appointment, phone 49-5351/58740). On the right we pass the church which wasrestored after a fire in World War II. The stairs on the left side of

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the entrance lead to theformer monastery yard withits famous Double Chapeldated around 1050. It wasbuilt on a Carolingianfoundation as a missionchapel to open on hall foursides, traces of which canstill be seen in the masonry.The Peter´s Chapel is thelower Roman part, the upper John´s Chapel has stucco decofrom 1710. The Baroque roof cap dates from 1616, themonastery buildings from the early 18th century. From thecourtyard we have access to the Roman Crypt St. Felicitas(11th century) with its massive pillars positioned crosswiseand columns with palm capitals. In the anteroom we findremnants of Roman plaser flooring depicting in black and redGreek sages carrying inscription banners. The sextonhouse´s timber structure has variegated fillings with oldbricks.

Via Ostendorf, an earlier“bondsfolk settlement”, wereturn towards the town, pastthe “Ständerhaus”, upPapenberg on the left, alongthe city wall up to the churchcompound of St. Stephaniwhich is situated a littlehigher. In earlier times it wasa traders´ district. Next to the

parish hall on the left was the old town school. It was foundedas early as 1248, and rebuilt in its present shape with theBrunswick Lion in 1681, to serve as a poor house. Thechurch, dating from before 1300, was completely restored atthe beginning of the 15th century. It is a late Gothic hallchurch with three naves and a massive western part, but theplanned tower construction was never carried out. Thechurch contains valuable Roman, Gothic, and Renaissanceinterior decorations as well as important epitaphs of theuniversity´s period. The building opposite is the BeguinHouse, dated 1580, with carved fanshaped frieze above afigure of St. Stephanus and council and civic coats-of-arms.

Via Beguinenstraße wecome up to Holzberg,formerly a piece of wood-land containing a reservoirfor the town´s water supply.Nowadays it is the weeklymarket area and parking lot.It is surrounded by beautiful

timber framed houses, especially the duplex house no. 17

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with fanshaped frieze and elaborate carvings on beams andwindows frames. It was built between 1561 and 1648. On thesame side we find some more well preserved or restoratedhouses.

Through Tiefetal we come to Neumärker Straße, the city´smain pedestrian shopping area. House no. 29, a statelytimber frame structure withbrick fillings, has several

inscriptions in Latin and onein Greek (translationsbetween the right hand shopwindows). Noteworthy inthis area are several moreprofessor´s houses withcharacteristic metal platestelling the names, facultiesand office periods of theirresidents.

We conclude the westwardwalk at Hausmannsturm.Th is tower was f i r s tmentioned in a document of1286 and today is the onlytown-gate left of the walledenclosure. Here we turn intoBötticherstraße. The dark paved line in the middle of theroad marks the former “Breiten Stein”, which used to be theonly paved road part between the gutters. To the left, inBindegasse, we still have the original paving stones.

The Professor´s HouseBötticherstraße 51 shows agateway for coaches orsedans, and inside on theright a passage to theformer lecture room. Theprofessors used to lecturein their homes. Next to theexit onto the yard, a spiralstaircase made of stoneleads to the living quarters.

Often, the students lived with the professors in their homes.The “Gerechtigkeitssäule” (Justice Column) in front of thedistrict court was set up in 1985.

Vis-a-vis the court is the Juleum. It was the assembly hall ofthe former university, built in palatial Renaissance stylebetween 1592 an 1597. Large windows subdivide the wallfaces harmoniously. The gables are abundantly decorated

Market place

St. Ludgeri Church

St. Stephani Church

Holzberg

Neumärker Straße

Professor's house Bötticherstraße

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Tour Outside of the Tour

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Juleum

Collegienstraße

Gothic house Schuhstraße

Mayour's house

Markt 1 (Entrance Holzberg)

Church and Monastery St. Marienberg13

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Professor's house Ziegenmarkt,

Church St. Walpurgis and ramparts

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remnants of town wall

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14 Big graves Lübbensteine

Half-Timber house Kybitzstraße

Eulenspiegel-Motorway15

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