Circular hiking route - Thuringian loop on the Lutherweg 1521

Wartburg - Sängerwiese - Wilde Sau - Hohe Sonne - Wilhelmsthal Castle - Altenberger Lake - Etterwinden - Luther's ancestral home Möhra - Schweina - Altenstein Castle - Steinbach - Luther monument in the Glasbach valley - Glasbachkopf - Schiller beech - Rennsteig - Ruhlaer Häuschen - Ascherbrück (forest inn "Hubertushaus") - Zollstock - Hohe Sonne - Wilde Sau - Sängerwiese - Wartburg

The path begins and ends in the courtyard at the Wartburg near the drawbridge to the entrance gate. Below the drawbridge, the Lutherweg is signposted towards Hohe Sonne - Möhra. It leads (together with the Wartburg trail and Pummpälzweg) below the Wartburg in several zigzags towards the south. At the Wartburg viewpoint, there is a beautiful view of the Wartburg framed by deciduous trees. The Lutherweg continues through the forests south of the Wartburg to the "Waldhaus Sängerwiese" inn. 1.5 km southwest of Sängerwiese you reach the "Wilde Sau" stone cross, a medieval atonement cross at the site of a hunting accident. From there you follow the Rennsteig to "Hohe Sonne", the pass of the Thuringian Forest ridge south of Eisenach. In front of the dilapidated former hunting lodge Hohe Sonne, a forest path branches off to the right leading south, which in about 2 km leads to the park and Wilhelmsthal Castle, a former hunting lodge of the Eisenach and Weimar dukes. Wilhelmsthal park, the castle ensemble and the artificial lake have been under restoration for years. Passing Altenberger Lake (campground with inn), the Lutherweg continues past Etterwinden (inn "Rennsteigblick") to Luther's ancestral home Möhra. Martin Luther visited his relatives in Möhra and preached on the village square in 1521 on the return journey from the Diet of Worms. Almost everything in the pretty village of Möhra is related to Luther: Lutherstraße, Lutherplatz, Luther ancestral house, Luther monument, Luther church with Luther library. Only the small public poultry park Möhra with old, special poultry breeds is without Luther. Behind Möhra, the Lutherweg turns southeast past fields to Gumpelstadt (Moorgrund municipality) and Schweina. 1.2 km through the district Glücksbrunn along Altensteiner Straße, you reach Alte Mark Street, directly to the beautiful Altensteiner Park and finally to the pretty Altenstein Castle, the former summer residence of the Meiningen dukes. On the Lutherweg, it continues east to Steinbach. From there, the Lutherweg follows the Luther valley/Glasbach valley at Kallenbach northwards towards Ruhla/Rennsteig. At the site of the Luther monument in the forest below the Rennsteig, the "kidnapping" of Martin Luther is said to have taken place on May 4, 1521: By order of Frederick the Wise (territorial lord of Saxony-Thuringia), armed riders stopped the travel coach, took Martin Luther with them and brought him to the Wartburg as asylum, where he lived for 10 months as Junker Jörg. Due to papal excommunication and the imperial ban of Emperor Charles V from the Diet of Worms, Martin Luther was an outlaw because of his evangelical teachings and thus in mortal danger. During his stay at the Wartburg, Martin Luther translated the New Testament from the Greek original into German. The Lutherweg continues uphill to the deserted village of Glasbach, where it reaches the Rennsteig (pilgrimage on the Rennsteig). From the Glasbachstein fork at Glasbach meadow, the route follows the Rennsteig past viewpoints and shelters back to Hohe Sonne. At Ascherbrück, you reach the Hubertushaus forest inn on the road to Ruhla. The Rennsteig continues north through the Thuringian Forest to Hohe Sonne. For the return to the Wartburg, you can take the same route as the outward journey or choose another of the many hiking trails in the forests and ravines south of the Wartburg (e.g. through the Drachenschlucht).