Cum burgensibus civitatis, "with the citizens of the city", the Thuringian landgrave Ludwig held a court hearing on March 28, 1222 in the "Ecclesia Maior" of Marburg, today the Lutheran parish church of St. Mary.

Because the date and place are documented in the "Chronica Reinhardsbrunnensis", after all it was here that Ludwig IV received the news of the birth of his heir Hermann, the university town can now celebrate its anniversary with a current view of 800 years of town history.

Of course, it started earlier and is far from over, as can be seen from the program that currently lures me to the Lahn every few weeks: there is so much to discover.

From garden to cultural monument

Sonya Kastilan

Editor in the "Science" department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Far better known than the landgrave, however, is his wife: Saint Elizabeth (1207-1231).

As a young widow, she founded a hospital in Marburg and, living in poverty, devoted herself entirely to nursing, which is why a church and shrine were built after her death, which was consecrated in 1283.

The Gothic Elisabeth Church, once an important place of pilgrimage, is a landmark of the city. Hessian counts found their final resting place here, as did Reich President Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), while Elisabeth's bones were raised and distributed in the 16th century.

Her head is now said to be in Vienna, her wedding dress - the Hungarian king's daughter was already engaged when she was one and married at 14 after she was raised by her mother-in-law-to-be - belongs to the Andechs monastery treasures.

If this story, immortalized in red sandstone, gets too much on your mind, you can take a breather in the nearby Old Botanical Garden, right next to the new university library.

Or, even better, set off from this green cultural monument to the new botanical garden of the university, which has a few floral surprises in store on the Lahnberge.

I recently walked through the 20-hectare facility in glorious autumn weather, past exotic coniferous plants, supposedly profane birches and chestnuts in a classic arboretum - in search of the fern gorge.

Surely a spring forest or the well-kept rhododendron grove with hundreds of plants that enrich a gene bank can be more exciting at flowering time.

But autumn gives the area a special charm, and as nice as it was to climb practically single-handedly over the Pyrenees and the Himalayas in the Alpinum, which the people of Marburg would rather call "Montanum", I wish the area more visitors.

You can go on a wonderful journey of discovery here, explore very different mountain regions lightly,

If all this is not enough for you, we recommend a tour of the eight show greenhouses, in which, in addition to cinnamon and cocoa trees, a number of other spice plants such as the vanilla orchid or South American violet bushes bloom.

Whether titan arum or giant water lily, succulents or carnivores: under more than 5000 square meters of glass, gardeners and botanists on the Lahnberge guard a treasure that is acutely dependent on donations, because the 23 glass houses designed in 1970 have to be renovated and "energetically optimized".

The state of Hesse bears most of the costs, but anyone can help as a "plant lover", according to the motto "I bloom for you.

donate to me”;

The patron of this campaign is Floria, Landgravine of Hesse, who invites you to the "Princely Garden Festival" once a year at three locations.