Quedlinburg - Schlossberg with Collegiate Church of St.Servatii by t.ART

Quedlinburg is a town on the River Bode north of the Harz in the district of Harz in Saxony-Anhalt. First mentioned in a document in 922 and granted town charter in 994, the town was the seat of the royal palatinate of secular rulers visited at Easter from the 10th to the 12th century and of a ladies' convent for almost 900 years. In the historic old town with its cobbled streets, winding alleys and small squares there are a good 2,000 half-timbered houses dating back eight centuries.

With a historically built-up town centre extending over more than 80 hectares, Quedlinburg is one of the largest area monuments in Germany. Its closed medieval town layout and its huge stock of half-timbered houses document more than six centuries of half-timbered construction in a unique quality and quantity. Buildings from all style and time periods make Quedlinburg a prime example of the development of half-timbered construction par excellence. The collegiate church of St. Servatius with its famous cathedral treasure, the thousand-year-old Wipertikirche church and the remains of St. Mary's monastery on Münzenberg are reminders of the priority this place had for the Ottonian rulers of the 10th century. The election of Henry, Duke of Saxony, as king in 919 laid the foundations for the emergence of the first German state. He was buried in his favourite palace on Quedlinburg's Schlossberg in 936. The women's monastery founded by his widow Mathilde in the same year developed into a high-ranking political and cultural metropolis of the empire. As the Easter palace of the Ottonian emperors, as the site of important court days and synods, Quedlinburg was at the centre of events for more than 100 years. On 17 December 1994, Quedlinburg, over 80 hectares of historic inner city with Stiftsberg, Münzenberg and Wiperti, was declared a universal heritage site.