Discover Wildeshausen
Accommodation in Wildeshausen
Wildeshausen brings together several cultural and natural points of interest: St. Alexander's Church, the Prehistoric Centre Wildeshausen (UZW) and the Pestrup Burial Ground. Each offers a different focus. The church represents late Romanesque architectural history, the UZW provides archaeological information, and the burial ground features burial mounds in a heathland landscape. When choosing what to focus on during your stay, you might consider whether you would prefer to visit a historic building, learn about archaeological topics or explore the landscape. The church's opening schedule and the walking directions to the UZW provide additional guidance.
St. Alexander's Church and its architectural history
St. Alexander's Church in Wildeshausen is the only surviving late Romanesque basilica in the Oldenburg region. This classification combines architectural form and period: “basilica” refers to the building type, while “late Romanesque” indicates its historical period. The church is open daily except Tuesdays. Before your trip, check the latest official operating information and take Tuesdays into account when planning your day.
Archaeology in Wildeshausen
The Prehistoric Centre Wildeshausen (UZW) is an archaeological information centre in the Wildeshauser Geest Nature Park. From Wildeshausen railway station, it is a ten-minute walk through the town centre, covering 600 metres. The walking time and distance provide a concrete measure for planning your arrival: the starting point is the railway station, and the destination is the archaeological information centre. Unlike at the Pestrup Burial Ground, the focus here is on presenting archaeological topics at a centre.
The Pestrup Burial Ground lies south of Wildeshausen. It covers around 40 hectares and contains approximately 500 burial mounds. Within the wider Oldenburg destination, it is an archaeological site of supra-regional importance in a heathland and pine forest landscape. The burial ground is also the largest continuous heathland area in the district of Oldenburg; both short and longer walks are possible there. The area and number of burial mounds convey the scale of the site, while walking offers another way to experience the landscape.
Culture and landscape in the wider Oldenburg destination
The museum at Hude Monastery displays models illustrating its architectural history, archaeological finds, maps and texts about the history of the Cistercians, as well as a scriptorium where visitors can try writing with a quill. The monastery ruins preserve the remains of a three-aisled basilica with a projecting transept; the church was originally more than 57 metres long and more than 24 metres wide. Founded in 1232, the Cistercian monastery, known as “Portus Sancte Marie” (“Harbour of Saint Mary”), quickly became the spiritual, economic and political centre of the eastern part of the County of Oldenburg. Hude focuses on monastic and literary history, while St. Alexander's Church in Wildeshausen is classified as a late Romanesque basilica. These different themes offer you a regional cultural and historical perspective without equating the two places.
A further perspective on the landscape is offered by the 40-kilometre canoe route on the Hunte from Wildeshausen to Oldenburg. It passes through the Wildeshauser Geest, by sandbanks, steep riverbanks and forests. The route includes 11 launch and landing points, 10 rest areas and 11 information boards along the nature trail. Alongside architecture and archaeology, the river landscape and the route itself therefore offer different regional highlights to choose from.
Discover more destinations: Kirchseelte, Hatten, Wardenburg, Hude, Ganderkesee, Kirchhatten, Großenkneten, Dötlingen
See the full travel overview: Oldenburg.
