Discover Weida: Culture and Crafts

Weida offers a range of cultural perspectives for your stay: the leather tannery focuses on a traditional production process, St. Mary’s Church reflects its former function as a monastery church, and Osterburg Castle is home to several cultural and dining venues. You can choose your focus based on whether you are more interested in production, church history or a broad selection of cultural venues.

Crafts and the history of Weida

At the leather tannery, visitors learn how many steps are required to turn cattle hides into durable sole leather. The focus is on both the finished material and the process behind it. If you are interested in traditional crafts, this topic offers a concrete insight into the production of a functional everyday product.

The Tourist Information Centre is located in the castle guardhouse at the foot of Osterburg Castle. It provides information about restaurants and accommodation, as well as places to visit, hiking routes and cycling tours. This wide range of information is useful if you want to bring together questions about different aspects of your stay. The Tourist Information Centre serves as a point of contact for practical guidance.

St. Mary’s Church is the former monastery church of the Franciscan Order. Osterburg Castle in Weida has a different, broader profile: it is home to a museum, a gallery, an artist’s studio, exhibition and event spaces, as well as dining venues. Check current opening arrangements and visitor information before your visit.

The Weidsche Cake Market

The 2026 Weidsche Cake Market traditionally offers numerous varieties of home-baked cake. Bakeries, private individuals, clubs and young bakers all contribute. The offering brings together contributions from different groups and adds a culinary highlight alongside the city’s cultural venues. If you would like to include the market in your travel plans, check the dates for your travel period.

Greiz: Princely residence and textile history

Greiz offers further cultural themes. Since 2010, the Upper Castle has housed the permanent exhibition “From the Land of the Vogts to the Principality of Reuss Elder Line”. It explores the history of the Vogts, lords, counts of the Holy Roman Empire and princes of Reuss, as well as the small-state court culture associated with them. The museum also offers a multimedia historical experience featuring a computer-animated history of the building 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. In Greiz, historical court themes and hands-on insights into textile production thus sit alongside one another as distinct cultural focuses.

The Summer Palace in Greiz also offers a distinctive architectural point of interest: it was built as a summer residence for the princes of the Elder Line of Reuss and is one of the earliest Neoclassical buildings in Central Germany. Greiz Park lies at the foot of the wooded castle hill. As a 19th-century landscape park, the ensemble as a whole is designated a national cultural monument.

Discover more destinations: Hilbersdorf, Münchenbernsdorf, Großebersdorf, Bocka, Langenwolschendorf, Hohenleuben, Auma-Weidatal, Endschütz

Return to the main travel overview: Greiz.