1028 GERMANY (Saxony-Anhalt) - Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg (UNESCO WHS)

In 15th century, Eisleben, situated in the eastern foothills of the Harz Mountains, was a pretty prosperous town, due to its copper mines, exploited since the 13th century. Here was born, on 10 November 1483, Martin Luther, the son of Hans Luder, a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters. Become monk in 1505 and ordained to the priesthood in 1507, he was received into the senate of the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg in 1512, having been called to the position of Doctor in Bible. Five years later he wrote The Ninety-Five Theses (original Latin: Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum), piece of work which is regarded as the initial catalyst for the Protestant Reformation, one of the most significant events in the religious and political history of the world. The most important collaborator of Luther, and also the primary founder, alongside with him, of Lutheranism, was Philipp Melanchthon, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation. Because of the importance of Luther and Melanchthon in Protestant Reformation, some individual sites and monuments associated to their lives, located in Eisleben and Wittenberg, were designated an UNESCO World Heritage Site:

Martin Luthers Geburtshaus (Martin Luther's Birth House) - is one of the oldest houses in Eisleben, even if heavily restored, and has been a memorial site since 1693, this making the museum one of the oldest institutions of its kind in a German-speaking country. Actually the actual house in which Luther was born no longer exists, because it burnt completely in 1689. It is noteworthy for a special mixture of historical importance and 19th-century historicism.

Martin Luthers Sterbehaus (Martin Luther's Death House) - located in Meben, now used as a museum and offices for the Luther Memorials organization. The house was first named Luther’s Death House in 1726. In 1863, the Prussian treasury acquired the building and established a memorial on the site. Between 2010 and early 2013, the memorial was carefully restored and expanded into a museum complex with the addition of a modern new building.

About the stamp
The stamp, illustrating St. Peter's Cathedral of Regensburg, is part of a series of two, about which I wrote here.

References
Martin Luther - Wikipedia
Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg - UNESCO official website
Luther Memorials Foundation of Saxony-Anhalt - Official website

sender: Katrin Fraenkler (direct swap)
sent from Eisleben (Saxony-Anhalt / Germany), on 27.05.2013