Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

🇩🇪 Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Luther City Wittenberg)), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the River Elbe, 60 km (37 mi) north of Leipzig and 90 km (56 mi) south-west of Berlin.

Wittenberg is famous for its close connection with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, for which it received the honourific Lutherstadt. Several of Wittenberg's buildings are associated with the events, including a preserved part of the Augustinian monastery in which Luther lived, first as a monk and later as owner with his wife Katharina von Bora and family, considered to be the world's premier museum dedicated to Luther. Wittenberg was also the seat of the Elector of Saxony, a dignity held by the dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg, making it one of the most powerful cities in the Holy Roman Empire.

Today, Wittenberg is an industrial centre and popular tourist destination, best known for its intact historic centre and various memorial sites dedicated to Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. The Luther Memorial was added to the UNESCO world heritage list in 1996.

Economy The town is an important centre of chemical industry with the SKW Stickstoffwerke Piesteritz GmbH. The whole area of the industrial park covers more than 220 hectares with more than 1,500 workers. Wittenberg is also the headquarters of the eco-friendly web search engine Ecosia. Tourism plays a major role. Wittenberg is one of the top destinations in Saxony-Anhalt.

Transport Lutherstadt Wittenberg station is the main railway station. It connects Wittenberg hourly with Berlin to the north and Leipzig and Halle (Saale) to the south. The station was rebuilt to be more environmentally friendly and re-opened in December 2016.

Culture Wittenberg has a long tradition of cultural events. The Central German State Theatre (Mitteldeutsches Landestheater) reached a great importance in GDR times. Since 1996, the town has staged open-air theatre shows based on the Lutheran history still alive in many historical places of the ancient town. As highlights, in 2001 and 2005, Fernando Scarpa became the artistic director of the "Bühne Wittenberg" (Stage Wittenberg), a project for theatre, art and culture in the whole of Germany which attracts many visitors to the town and whose success is known European-wide. On 2002 and 2003 Stefano Vagnini, Italian composer and organist created the music for Thesys and Luther Stories. Prince Hamlet is said to have studied in Wittenberg and it was the supposed home of Dr. Faustus.

Education Wittenberg is seat of the Leucorea which is part of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, the largest university in Saxony-Anhalt.