Free Walking Tour Wernigerode: Old Town to the Castle

Your Wernigerode Walking Tour Stop by Stop: Timber, Mills and a Castle

1. 1

   Wernigerode Town Hall

   

   Stand on the market square and look at the half-timbered front facing you. Two slender oriels flank the entrance; they rest on free-standing posts, rise above the eaves with a slate-clad storey each, carry little gables and end in needle-thin pointed roofs, so they read almost like a pair of towers. The upper timber floor projects about 50 cm over the solid ground floor and is built from massive beams. Against all that vertical pull runs a dense band of curved St Andrew's crosses, capped by a heavy breast rail.

   Now get closer and look at the carved brackets. On the ground floor they show saints; up under the roof the company changes to minstrels, fools, drinkers and Morris dancers with the May Queen. Even the beam ends are carved. An inscription on the threshold names the man who finished the job, the master carpenter Thomas Hilleborch. The style is Lower Saxon, with touches of the Franconian and Hessian way of building mixed in.

   Those jesters fit the building's first purpose. Around 1420 Count Heinrich built it as a comital play house, the Spelhus, on top of the wine cellar, and the inscription in the coat of arms above the main portal still points to it. In 1427 he gave it to the town, which kept using it for Shrovetide games and also as a place for trade and for court sessions. The timber front you see was begun in 1494 and finished in 1498, with a hall inside that served the citizens for celebrations. The old town hall nearby was lost in the town fire of 1528.

   The facade costs nothing and is the reason to be here; the interior is shown only on guided tours, so it's worth it mainly if you happen to catch one. From here the Harz Museum is just 90 m away, a one-minute walk, and it picks up the town hall and the timber-framing story in its exhibition.

   Hours

   Exterior viewable 24/7; interior by guided tour

   Price

   Free (exterior); guided tours vary

   Website

   wernigerode.de ↗

   Location

   Wernigerode Town Hall on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Harz Museum

   

   The town's own museum sits a minute from the town hall and gives you a compact introduction to the Harz, from its rocks to its painters, on about 400 square metres of permanent exhibition. Most of the original objects and artworks come from the region itself.

   The natural history part tells the Harz's geological story in order, with fossils, minerals and rocks, then turns to historical mining, explained with movable models you can work. After that come the animals and plants of the Harz, the forest they live in and the timber it supplied for half-timbered houses like the ones outside. Look out for the old telephones scattered through the rooms: pick one up and it works as an audio guide.

   The second part follows the town from the Middle Ages into the 20th century: the town hall, the timber-frame architecture, crafts, industrialisation and tourism. A separate room shows part of the art collection, centred on the so-called Harz painters, artists who lived here or kept coming back to paint the mountains. Most are from the 20th century, such as Otto Illies, Wilhelm Pramme, Bert Heller, Bruno Jüttner, Erich Krüger, Carl Klapper and Maria Schmidt-Franken, with some 19th-century pieces by Ernst Helbig, Georg Heinrich Crola and Christian Wilberg. In total the museum holds around 600 paintings plus several hundred drawings, prints and watercolours.

   Entry is charged. Go in if you like context before you look at the houses, or if the weather is poor; if your day is short and the castle is your priority, you can pass by. The Tilted House is another 90 m on, one minute away, and its story is all about water, mills and timber.

   Hours

   Tue–Sat 10:00–17:00, Sun and public holidays 11:00–16:00, Mon closed

   Price

   4.00 EUR regular, 2.00 EUR children (7-17) / social pass, 3.00 EUR reduced (disabled, students, trainees, seniors, Wernigerode ticket), 10.00 EUR family, under 6 free

   Website

   wernigerode.de ↗

   Location

   Harz Museum on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Tilted House (Schiefes Haus)

   

   This leaning timber house was a fulling mill, and it stands unusually close to the town hall for a working mill. There was a mill on this spot by the 13th century at the latest; in 1630 it was sold to the guild of cloth makers and tanners, and the two guilds had the present building put up in 1680. At that time there were around 100 mills in and around the town.

   The water came along a millrace fed by the Zillierbach, flowing from the Schöne Ecke in Nöschenrode across the market square and through the Heideviertel, where it also drove the Heidemühle, out to the Klares Loch, a breach in the town wall guarded by a tower. The millers used the fall of the Klint, the high ground where the earliest town was built, to give the stream enough speed for an overshot wheel. The same channel also carried away the waste of the houses and tanneries along it.

   Why it tilts: probably six hammers pounded hides and felted cloth here, and over the years their shaking pressed the ground down until one side of the house sank by more than 60 cm. The cellar walls were a metre thick, but the mill pond next to the house kept the soil damp. Because the timber frame was built so sturdily, the house never collapsed, even though it now leans out by 130 cm. Today several iron anchors hold it, and you can see them inside.

   Milling stopped in 1894, the machinery was removed and the cellar filled in, yet the millrace was only piped a hundred years later. The building was a home until around 1970; then the town administration moved in, added straight walls and levelled the slopes where possible, which made the low rooms even lower. Entry to the small museum is charged and a short look is enough to feel the slant and see the anchors. From here it's 290 m, about 4 minutes, to the Smallest House, from a guild workshop to a craftsmen's home.

   Hours

   Tue–Sun 11:00–17:00, Mon closed

   Price

   2.00 EUR per person (museum entry)

   Website

   museum-schiefes-haus.de ↗

   Location

   Tilted House (Schiefes Haus) on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Smallest House

   

   Kochstraße 43 is easy to miss and impossible to forget once you've seen it. Built in 1792, the Smallest House stands near the old town wall in a former craftsmen's quarter, where the rule was simple: the closer to the wall, the poorer the people. Its builders saved on gable walls altogether and wedged the house into a gap of 2.95 m between two neighbours. The eaves sit at 4.20 m and the front door is just 1.70 m high.

   Inside, the ground floor holds a hallway and a kitchen, the first floor a single living room of 9 m², and the attic on top was the bedroom. The toilet is out at the back of a small yard. Ceilings reach about 1.90 m at most. Pipe borers, cloth makers and shoemakers are recorded as residents, and up to eleven people are said to have lived here at the same time. People lived in it until 1976.

   Today the town owns it and runs a small folk museum inside; together with the town hall and the castle it's among the best-known buildings in Wernigerode. Entry is charged and a visit is quick, which makes it an easy yes, especially with children; taller visitors will be ducking. Next comes the longest leg in the old part of the route: 1180 m, about 22 minutes, up to Wernigerode Castle above the town.

   Local name

   Kleinstes Haus

   Hours

   May–Oct: daily 10:00–16:00; Nov–Apr: closed

   Price

   1.00 EUR per person

   Website

   wernigerode.de ↗

   Location

   Smallest House on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Wernigerode Castle

   

   The castle you see above the town was finished in the late 19th century, and its style is often compared with Neuschwanstein. But the foundations are far older and have been rebuilt several times. The first castle went up in the early 12th century as a Romanesque fortress, a secure stop for German emperors on their hunting trips into the Harz. Only a few of those medieval walls and foundations survive.

   The counts who held it appear early: Adalbert of Haimar, Count of Wernigerode, is named in a deed of 1121, which is also the first record of the settlement, founded about a century earlier when the forest here was being cleared. The counts built the castle on the slope as their residence; it's first mentioned as a castrum in 1213. When their line died out in 1429, the lands passed to the neighbouring counts of Stolberg, and the castle became an administrative seat that was pawned several times. In the late 15th century it was enlarged in Gothic style with large arched windows, and in the 16th century rebuilt as a Renaissance fortress.

   In 1645 the Stolberg family split and Wernigerode once more became a capital, of the County of Stolberg-Wernigerode. During the Thirty Years' War the counts clashed with the townspeople and had to live at nearby Ilsenburg, while the castle was badly damaged. Only in 1710 could Count Christian Ernest move the seat of government back and have the castle rebuilt as a Baroque residence.

   The castle charges entry, and this is the stop that deserves the most time if you go inside. It's also where the town's 19th-century art is mainly kept, a good complement if you liked the painters in the Harz Museum. If you'd rather keep moving, the last leg runs 1740 m, about 24 minutes, on to the Agnesberg.

   Hours

   Daily: 10:00–18:00

   Price

   Adults 9 EUR, reduced 8 EUR, children (6-14) 4.50 EUR, family 23 EUR

   Website

   schloss-wernigerode.de ↗

   Location

   Wernigerode Castle on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Agnesberg Viewpoint

   

   The Agnesberg rises to 395 m inside the Harz/Saxony-Anhalt nature park, and its summit sits above the centre of Wernigerode. The castle you just left stands lower down on a spur of this same hill, so the walk up here completes the climb from the market square.

   Partly waymarked trails cross the hill, among them the Annaweg, which has a stamp point for the Harzer Wandernadel hiking badge, so bring your stamp book if you collect them. Look for the memorial stone to Christian Henrich, Prince of Stolberg-Wernigerode, who died in 2001: a quiet last link to the family whose castle you've just seen.

   The viewpoint is free and makes a calm end to the tour after the busy old town and the castle.

   Hours

   24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Agnesberg Viewpoint on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways Through Wernigerode

The full line runs from the market square up to the Agnesberg, but the old town stops sit so close together that you can cut the walk to suit your day.

Old town only

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4

For a short visit or a first evening: the town hall and the three small museums, just 6 minutes of walking in total. The Harz Museum, the Tilted House and the Smallest House each charge entry; the town hall facade is free.

Town and castle, no hilltop

Stops: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

For anyone who wants the castle but not the extra hill: 28 minutes of walking, ending at Wernigerode Castle. Entry applies at the three museums and the castle.

Facades and views, no tickets

Stops: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6

For a tight budget or a dry, sunny day outdoors: the whole 3.4 km line with 53 minutes of walking, looking at every building from outside and finishing on the free Agnesberg.

How Long Does This Wernigerode Tour Take, With and Without the Castle?

The pure walking time is 53 minutes. The first four stops lie within 6 minutes of each other in the old town; after that come the two longer legs, 22 minutes up to the castle and 24 minutes on to the Agnesberg.

If you go inside the Harz Museum, the two little house museums and the castle, plan about four hours for the whole line; the castle takes the biggest share of that. The old town on its own takes about an hour and a half with all three interiors, adding the castle brings you to about three hours, and walking everything from outside only takes under two hours.

Before You Set Off from the Market Square

• Start: Wernigerode Town Hall on the market square is the recommended start, but you can join the route at any stop.
• Finish: The tour ends on the Agnesberg above the town, after the castle.
• Time of day: Start in the morning if you want to go inside the museums and the castle, so the castle visit doesn't get rushed at the end.
• Entry: The Harz Museum, the Tilted House, the Smallest House and Wernigerode Castle charge entry. The town hall facade and the Agnesberg are free; the town hall interior is shown only on guided tours.

Common Questions About Wernigerode