Science centre with many attractions
Gotha is principal town of the administrative district of Gotha and, although it has only 45,000 inhabitants, it is the fifth largest town of Thuringia. It is situated on the edge of the Thuringian basin at the foothills of Thuringian forest.
While Weimar is regarded a centre of art, Gotha is a centre of science.
Gotha’s skyline is dominated by castle Friedenstein, the former residence of Sachsen-Gothe-Altenburg’s dukes. In the western part lies the Ekhof theatre, the world’s oldest preserved castle theatre. From here you easily reach the historical Old Town and market square, well-preserved department stores and the city hall. Worth visiting is further the Gothic Augustinian church in which once Martin Luther had preached. To the north of the city centre is the listed Schützenhof. With the Thuringian forest railway you can get onto mountain Boxberg where the city’s racecourse is.
The castle park of Gotha lies in midst of the city and surrounds castle grounds. Here is the oldest English scenery garden of the European mainland. Its main features still resemble those of 200 years ago. The orangery with refrigerated storage buildings and greenhouses is part of the castle park. Castle Friedenstein accommodates also a museum of nature exhibiting geologic, zoological and palaeontologic collections.
At the first weekend of May the town’s most important festival takes place: the Gotthardusfest. This traditional festival is since 1442 staged and lasts 3 days on which markets and musical entertainment are offered. At the beginning is a firework and on the next day parades of Gotha’s various associations take place.
The second biggest festival is celebrated at the last weekend of August. Around 200 amateur actors play for two days the court of Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg’s dukes.
In September international metal artist workers meet in Gotha‘s old forge at a meeting called „Gotha glows“. The works created are afterwards auctioned.
More information: http://www.gotha.de/fileadmin/stadtinfo/pdf/gth-uk-ebook.pdf, also in fr, nl and pl: http://www.gotha.de/
Photo: RicoK/Shutterstock
