Altenburg - DE

City member

Altenburg, the former capital and residential town oft he Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, is centered in the metropolitan region Central Germany. With its wealth of historically valuable buildings of many eras and styles and a lot of culture, the town offers a lot to see and to experience.

Altenburg is over 1.000 years old and welcomed many important personalities of world history just like the Emperor Frederick I. (Barbarossa) who promoted the development of the town or Emperor Otto II., scientists like Alfred Brehm or Georg von der Gabelentz, reformers like Martin Luther or Georg Spalatin, publishers like Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus or Johann Friedrich Pierer as well as famous musicians like Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Ludwig Krebs or Christian Friedrich Witt. The town unites three representative instruments of important Central German organ builders in a very small space which epochally build on each other: the Trost organ in the Castle Church (1739), the Ladegast organ in the Church of St. Bartholomäi (1881) and the Sauer organ in the Friar´s Church (1905). There is also an interesting organ landscape in the immediate vicinity which complements the Altenburg one. The Trost organ was played and praised by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1739 and is one of the few instruments with an authentic Bach sound. The Thuringian Organ Academy will take place in Altenburg for the 32nd time in 2023 and international organ summer concerts are regularly offered.

Altenburg is already inbetween a decade of development to position itself as the „pearl of Central Germany“. At the moment, the town is shaping the town center, expands tourism marketing, preparing the Thuringian horticultural show of 2030 and developing a „game world of experience“ in the historical old town which should bring tens of thousands of tourists to Altenburg from on the end of 2026. Altenburg has a strong connection to games. Since over 500 years playing cards were produced here and the German´s most famous card game Skat was invented here.

Feel invited to see the beautiful town of Altenburg!

Artistic Directors: DANIEL BEILSCHMIDT (email) & JOHANN FRIEDRICH RÖPKE (email)