Pilgrim walks in Harz

Official route description - Stage 16The approximately 2,200-kilometer-long pilgrimage route "VIA ROMEA GERMANICA" from Stade to Rome on its route between Hornburg and Osterwieck.

Official route description - Stage 20The approx. 2,200-kilometer-long pilgrimage route "VIA ROMEA GERMANICA" from Stade to Rome on its route section between Hasselfelde and Neustadt / Harz.

Official route description - Stage 19The approximately 2,200-kilometer-long pilgrimage route "VIA ROMEA GERMANICA" from Stade to Rome on its route between Elbingerode and Hasselfelde.

Official route description - Stage 18The approximately 2,200-kilometer-long pilgrimage route "VIA ROMEA GERMANICA" from Stade to Rome on its route section between Wernigerode and Elbingerode.

Official route description - Stage 17The approximately 2,200-kilometer-long pilgrimage route "VIA ROMEA GERMANICA" from Stade to Rome on its route section between Osterwieck and Wernigerode.

In 1236, Abbot Albert of Stade traveled to Pope Gregory IX to enforce a monastery reform in his Benedictine monastery dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary in Stade. In his "Annales Stadenses," he documented the most important ecclesiastical and political events of his time. Embedded within this is a dialogue between two monks about the best route for a pilgrimage to Rome. In this dialogue (itinerary), Albert of Stade describes his own journey to Rome, including all rest stops and the exact distances between locations.In Germany alone, he names 28 cities. A 14th-century copy of this document is kept in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel. Around 770 years later, the anthropologist Prof. Giovanni Caselli from Italy discovers this itinerary. Giovanni Caselli and a German theologian, Dr. Uwe Schott, invited all German mayors of these 28 cities to a meeting in Ochsenfurt in March 2008. This marked the revival of this old pilgrimage route from Stade to Rome.Meanwhile, the entire historic route has been researched. The goals of the "VIA ROMEA GERMANICA" – the path of encounters – are international understanding, interreligious dialogue, and the promotion of peace.

The Lutherwege form a network of paths with over 3000 kilometers. A section of 70 kilometers is located in the Saale-Unstrut region and runs from Höhnstedt to Landsberg. 

The Lutherweg stretches across the five federal states of Bavaria, Hesse, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, connecting the places where the Reformer was active. However, Martin Luther has his roots in the Mansfeld region. The Lutherweg, marked with a green "L", leads directly through Eisleben, where Luther was born, baptized, and also died.