Auma-Weidatal: Architectural History and the Weidatal Festival

In Auma-Weidatal, you can explore local history through its buildings: Auma’s market buildings and Church of Our Lady recall the town’s reconstruction after the 1790 fire; Göhren-Döhlen adds a rectory and a covered wooden bridge over the Weida. The Weidatal Festival is another recurring event. If you are looking for a hotel in Auma-Weidatal, these topics can help you plan your stay around architectural history or the event date.

Architectural history in Auma

Auma’s Old Town Hall and the townhouses opposite it at Markt 2 and Markt 12 stand along the long sides of the market square. They were rebuilt after the great town fire of 1790. Auma’s Church of Our Lady was also rebuilt after the fire and consecrated in 1794. The organ was added later: master organ builder F. W. Trampeli from Adorf in the Vogtland built it in 1818. The dates therefore mark different phases: reconstruction of the market buildings and church, the church’s consecration, and the later construction of the organ.

Rectory and wooden bridge in Göhren-Döhlen

The old rectory in Göhren-Döhlen dates from 1712 and stands on the banks of the Weida. The covered wooden bridge over the Weida was already there in 1799, but had to be rebuilt several times after floods. The two buildings thus have different historical features: a rectory with a specific date and a bridge whose history has also been shaped by flooding and repeated reconstruction. The bridge’s early existence and subsequent renewals are both part of its architectural history.

The Weidatal Festival as a date to plan your trip around

The Weidatal Festival in Göhren-Döhlen is held each year on the last weekend in June at the festival hall on the banks of the Weida. As a recurring local tradition, it differs from the historic buildings that remain in place year-round: here, the specific weekend is key to planning. So check the dates for your travel year before you arrive. This lets you take the festival date into account when planning your stay without confusing it with the historic landmarks that can be visited throughout the year.

Greiz: a distinct cultural and landscape setting

The wider travel destination of Greiz has its own cultural and historical focus. Since 2010, the Upper Castle in Greiz has housed the permanent exhibition “From the Land of the Vogts to the Principality of Reuss of the Elder Line.” It explores the history of the Vogts, lords, imperial counts, and imperial princes of Reuss, as well as the small-state court culture associated with them. The museum in the Upper Castle also offers a multimedia historical experience featuring a computer-animated building history and an interactive journey through time.

The Lower Castle in Greiz houses a museum and a textile demonstration workshop. Established in 1998, the workshop presents the production and history of Greiz’s textile industry; children and adults can take part in the manual production process. Another architectural landmark in Greiz is the Summer Palace: built as a summer residence for the princes of Reuss of the Elder Line, it is one of the earliest Neoclassical buildings in central Germany.

Greiz Park lies at the foot of the wooded castle hill. This 19th-century landscape park is designated a national cultural monument as a whole. The district of Greiz is in the Thuringian Vogtland. Its landscape includes upland areas, narrow valleys with castles and palaces, plateaus, rock formations cut through by rivers, floodplains, rolling hills, forests, and cultivated landscapes. In Greiz, court history, park design, and diverse landscapes come together as distinct regional themes.

Discover more destinations: Harth-Pöllnitz, Münchenbernsdorf, Langenwolschendorf, Greiz, Hohenleuben, Steinsdorf, Zeulenroda-Triebes, Ronneburg.

Back to the main travel overview: Greiz.