Cunewalde: Baroque Church, Timber-Framed Houses and Hotels

Cunewalde can be explored through three themes: its large Baroque church, the timber-framed house building style and routes through the Upper Lusatian Highlands. There is also a park with ponds, a cultural center, a technology and vehicle museum, and an adventure pool. When planning your stay, you can consider whether to focus on historic buildings and culture, a cycling tour, or several of these interests. The following places and activities provide a concrete framework for your stay in Cunewalde.

Baroque Church: Architecture, Music and Visits

Built in 1793, Cunewalde’s Baroque church has 2,632 seats and three galleries. It is considered Germany’s largest Protestant village church. Organ recitals and other concerts are part of its events program; the church is also a stop on the Via Sacra. This brings together architectural history, music and a prominent landmark in the town.

Seasonal visiting options and public guided tours for individual visitors are available. If you would like to combine your visit with a concert, it is worth checking the current dates. The tourist information office also offers bookable activities at the village church.

Timber-Framed Houses and the History of Technology

Cunewalde’s park of timber-framed houses features true-to-original models of Upper Lusatian timber-framed houses at a scale of 1:5. The scale makes the building style easy to understand in model form and allows you to view the houses shown as an ensemble. The park is open from Easter to the end of October; check opening hours again before your trip. On request, the tourist information office offers approximately 45-minute guided tours for groups of up to 15 people.

Another example of this building style is the protected timber-framed house on a three-sided farmstead, built in 1816. The farmstead also houses an exhibition about the Cunewalde engine works. Cunewalde’s vintage car museum displays around 70 historic vehicles built between 1910 and 1980. This makes it possible to focus your visit on anything from traditional building methods to regional technological history, without suggesting that the two topics are the same.

Parks, Culture and Landscapes

Curving paths wind through a landscape of ponds in Polenz Park. The park also preserves the remains of a Slavic fortification and a memorial stone to the writer Wilhelm von Polenz. Nature and history come together here: along with paths through the pond landscape, you will encounter tangible traces of the past.

Cunewalde’s Blaue Kugel cultural center hosts concerts and theater performances. The program changes, so check current dates if you would like a performance to be a highlight of your stay. Cunewalde is also located in the Upper Lusatian Highlands Landscape Protection Area. This landscape designation complements the cultural attractions with a view of the municipality’s natural environment.

Cycling and the Adventure Pool

In Cunewalde, the Spree Cycle Route connects to an 18-kilometer circular route through the valley between Czorneboh and Bieleboh. This loop is a specific option for cyclists who want to include a stated distance and a ride around the valley in their plans. Check route conditions locally, as they may change.

Cunewalde’s adventure pool is located directly on the Upper Lusatia Railway Cycle Route and has 850 square meters of water surface in solar-heated pools. Facilities include a giant slide, a wide slide, a play cove, a climbing net, a play area for young children and a water playground. Charging for e-bike batteries is also available. As facilities and their availability may change, check the current offering before your trip.

Planning Activities and Getting Around

The tourist information office offers bookable activities at the village church, in the timber-framed house park, in Polenz Park and at the vehicle and technology museum. It also organizes local tours and guided hikes, and sells hiking and cycling maps. Depending on your interests, you can choose between a bookable activity, a guided tour and finding your way with a map.

A hotel stay in Cunewalde offers a choice of different themes: church architecture and concerts, timber-framed houses and technology, park paths, or cycling combined with a trip to the adventure pool. Choose hotels based on which of these aspects of your stay matters most to you.

Discover more destinations: Großnaundorf, Elsterheide, Bautzen, Panschwitz-Kuckau, Lichtenberg, Demitz-Thumitz, Doberschau-Gaußig, Frankenthal.

Go to the main travel overview: Bautzen District.