Leipzig is famous for its music heritage.
It was the hometown
of the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach,
shown here with his favorite instrument, the pipe organ.
In the early 1700s,
Bach was the organist and choirmaster
right here at St. Thomas Church.
Inside, the clean, stripped-down interior
reflects the Protestant aesthetic
of an uncluttered church.
Stained glass celebrates how in 1539,
Martin Luther came here
to perform Leipzig's first Protestant service
and how, for nearly 30 years, Bach directed the boys' choir.
Bach's tomb, adorned with flowers,
is like a pilgrimage [site] for music lovers.
♫
When emperors paraded into town,
they'd approach its magnificent facade head-on.
Stepping inside, you feel the splendor of that age.
Suspended over the altar is the "Annunciation,"
by the great Nürnberg woodcarver, Veit Stoss.
Carved in 1517,
it shows the angel Gabriel telling Mary
that she'll be giving birth to the Messiah.
Startled, she drops her prayer book.
The dove represents the Holy Spirit.
And God, looking as powerful as a Holy Roman Emperor,
looks down.
This lacy tabernacle is rich enough
to hold the consecrated Communion wafer,
which Catholics consider the body of Christ.
And supporting the tower on his shoulders
is the artist who created it, Adam Kraft,
gripping his noble tools with a proud confidence.
Again, this was around 1500,
and the humanistic spirit of the Renaissance
was moving into Germany.
St. Jakob's Church, built in the 14th century,
has been Lutheran since 1544.
Its 12 apostles altarpiece grabs your attention.
With several large panels that swing on hinges,
it's permanently left in its open festival-day position.
But hiding upstairs in the back of the church
is the artistic highlight of Rothenburg
and perhaps Germany's most wonderful wood carving,
the glorious 500-year-old Altar of the Holy Blood.
Tilman Riemenschneider --
this is supposedly his self-portrait --
was the Michelangelo of German wood carvers.
He whittled this incredible ensemble
to hold a precious rock crystal capsule,
believed to contain a drop of Jesus' blood.
Below, in the scene of the Last Supper,
Jesus gives Judas, clutching his bag of coins,
a piece of bread, marking him as the traitor.
Art like this gave Rothenburgers
spiritual guidance.
The Berlin Cathedral, built in
the exuberant generation after the creation of Germany,
towers over those museums.
Stepping inside, you can see how
the first German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm,
ordered up bombastic decor which seems to declare,
"We're here to stay."
But like Berlin, it's definitively Protestant.
Under its inspiring dome, heroes of the Reformation --
like Calvin and Luther -- stand vigilant,
fingers pointing to the scripture
as if to guard their theology.
The Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady,
is the symbol and soul of the city.
When completed in 1743,
this was Germany's tallest Protestant church.
Then, in February of 1945, after the city was bombed,
in the last months of the war, the Frauenkirche collapsed.
For a generation, it lay there, a pile of rubble.
Then, Dresdeners decided to rebuild it
completely and painstakingly.
With the help of international donations,
Dresden's most beloved church was rebuilt
and finally reopened to the public in 2005.
Stepping inside, you're struck by the shape --
not so wide but very tall.
The color scheme is pastel,
to emphasize the joy of faith
and enhance the uplifting atmosphere
of the services held here.
The curves help create a feeling of community.
A Lutheran church,
but built at the peak of the Baroque period,
it seems the artistic style of the age
trumped the Lutheran taste for simplicity.
The church's twisted old cross,
which fell 300 feet from the tip of the dome
and burned in the rubble,
caps an inspirational story.
Climbing to the top of the beautifully reconstructed dome,
you're rewarded
with a commanding view over Dresden and its river.