Bad Hersfeld

Bad Hersfeld is a district capital in northeastern Hesse with about 30,000 residents, known as a spa town along the Fulda River. The old town features half-timbered houses next to ruins of an 11th-century Romanesque collegiate church, whose remaining walls rank among the largest church ruins north of the Alps.

Monk Sturm founded a monastic community in 769 at Haerulfisfeld, which grew into the influential Imperial Abbey of Hersfeld. The collegiate church burned down in 1761 during conflicts and has remained a ruin ever since.

A summer theater festival transforms the monastery ruins into an open-air stage each year. Visitors watch performances within medieval walls that serve as a natural backdrop for drama and music.

The town sits at the intersection of the A4 and A7 motorways and offers regular train connections to Frankfurt and Göttingen. Visitors find the center easily walkable, with the collegiate church ruins serving as a central landmark for orientation.

The Lullusfest has been celebrated annually on October 16 since 852, making it Germany's oldest documented folk festival. The feast day marks the transfer of Saint Lullus's relics to the abbey church in Hersfeld.