Discover Göda

For a trip to Göda, local history and the Schanzenwanderweg offer two clear focal points. Churches and Sorbian traditions add religious and cultural history, while the hiking trail brings in landscape and nature. This lets you choose between historical stops and a route that can be walked all at once or in shorter sections.

Göda’s history and churches

Göda was first mentioned as a Burgward, or castle district, in 1006. In 1076, it was the second-oldest parish of the Diocese of Meissen in Upper Lusatia, after Bautzen. These two dates mark different stages in the town’s history: its first mention as a Burgward and its ecclesiastical standing in the 11th century.

After Göda came under Saxon electoral rule in 1559, Elector Augustus had a Latin school established. It served primarily Sorbian pupils preparing to study theology. From the Middle Ages until the beginning of the 19th century, Göda was also home to the Wendish Regional Court. The school and court thus add educational and legal history to the ecclesiastical aspects of the town’s past.

The collegiate church of St Peter and St Paul is a Gothic hall church whose construction began between 1505 and 1517. Its present-day appearance, visible from afar, is defined by its Neo-Gothic twin towers, built in 1892. Inside are altar and apostle works by Friedrich Press, as well as an Eule organ. The exterior and interior furnishings offer different ways to appreciate the church’s architecture and works of art.

The Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Storcha is also among the historic churches in this area; it was built between 1882 and 1887. The Cyril and Methodius Association helped make the church’s construction a cause of the Sorbian people. Storcha is also a historically significant settlement on the Hohe Straße. Sorbian customs there include the Birds’ Wedding, Easter riding, Corpus Christi processions, house blessings and traditional costumes.

Hiking the Schanzenwanderweg

Göda’s Schanzenwanderweg is about 16 kilometres long and connects six Slavic hillfort sites within the municipality. You can walk the route as one continuous trail or divide it into shorter sections. This choice makes route planning a practical part of organising your day: you can follow the entire route or choose individual sections, without treating the approximate total distance as a walking time.

The trail is designed to showcase the scenic appeal of the Lusatian open countryside. It also explains the area’s cultural and historical features and provides information on geology, flora and fauna. The route thus combines landscape views with cultural-historical and natural-history topics. Visitors interested in these subjects will find more than a simple route description here: the hillfort sites, the landscape and the topics covered each add their own focus to the hike.

Discover more destinations: Schmölln-Putzkau, Großröhrsdorf, Burkau, Obergurig, Ralbitz-Rosenthal, Königsbrück, Lohsa, Lichtenberg.

Go to the regional travel overview: Bautzen District.