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Wartburg castle in Thuringia in which Martin Luther began the translation of the New Testament.

Wartburg was first erected in 1080 on a mountain cliff above the city of Eisenach. From 1211 to 1227, Saint Elizabeth lived here. The medieval building was an important center of court culture; in this respect, the well know proverb collection about the choral battle at the Wartburg was to have taken place here in the 13th century under Herman�Tof Thuringia. In 1485,the castle was the property of the duchy (later elector) of Saxony.

Martin Luther, who had caused the Reformation in 1517 and after his break with the papacy in 1520 was served with excommunication by the Imperial Diet in Worms, lived from May 1521 to March 1522 under the protection of the elector Frederick�V of Saxony in Wartburg.

During the years from 1838 to 1890 the largely deteriorated castle was rebuilt again in Romanesque style. The oldest building portion is the palace (from 1190 to 1220), where the frescos of Moritz von Schwind are exhibited. The middle castle with ladies’bower and armory was erected in the 19th century according to an old model, the so-called front castle from the 16th century consisted of a gate tower, a knight house and an overseer’s residence.

In 1817, the Wartburg Festival took place here, an assembly of 500 students organized by members of students’organizations in order to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Reformation and promote liberal democratic reforms for Saxony and the remaining German empire.

The ceremonial burning of books and images of writers considered reactionary, remained one that Luther himself also had burned the papal bull threatening excommunication; in 1521, he was excommunicated by the Catholic church.