Fulda is not only the centre of the region East Hesse, but also one of the towns which left their mark on the history of Germany, and especially as far as religion is concerned. Fulda attracts many visitors for its cathedral, St. Salvator, but situated in the Fulda Plain, it is also an ideal starting point for trips into the Rhön hill country in the east or the Vogelsberg in the west.

Fuldas important position among German towns was attained very early, right after the Franks adopted Christianity and St. Bonifatius, called the “Apostle of the Germans” was buried in the Fulda Monastery, which was elevated to the rank of an “imperial monastery” by Charlemagne, who granted the monastery immunity. The abbots of the monastery were given the title of “prince abbots” by Friedrich II. The abbots of Fulda stressed their importance by building an “Abbot´s Castle”, which in the 17th century was reconstructed as a renaissance palace.

The town of Fulda proper went through a mixed history, suffering during the “peasants wars”, witnessing many witch persecutions with dozens of victims and also suffering from Swedish raiders during the Thirty Years War. Fulda became the seat of a university in 1734, when the Catholic Church established a “Catholic University” with four faculties.

Might and glory of the “Prince-Abbots” ended in 1802, when Fulda and the possessions of the abbots underwent secularisation; Fulda became a part of Kurhessen, later on became Prussian, and after WW II it became a part of the modern federal state of Hesse.

One of the most important monuments to visit in Fulda is its Cathedral St. Salvator, an impressive building finished in 1712, and harbouring, as its predecessor, the tomb of St. Bonifiatius. Worth visiting are also the Kloster Frauenberg (Frauenberg Monastery) which in its existent form is a baroque building built between 1758 and 1765, and also the palaces of the former “Prince-Abbots”, the Stadtschloss (City Palace) and the Schloss Fasanerie. Fulda is also a town rich in monuments, which are distributed all over the city, like, for instance, the Monument of St. Bonifatius on the square bearing the same name.

 

Fulda is situated on several bicycle trekking routes:

 

Hesse Bicycle Route R1 (Rhön-Weser)

Hesse Bicycle Route R2 (Four river route, Lahn, Lauter, Lüder and Fulda)

Hesse Bicycle Route R3 (Rhein-Main-Kinzig Route, starting in Rüdesheim and ending in Tann/Rhön)

 

More information (in German): http://www.tourismus-fulda.de/

Photo: ThomasSD, public domain, via Wikipedia