Eisleben


Martin Luther was born in the little town of Eisleben on November 10, 1483 shortly before midnight. He always boasted that he came from "common peasant stock" because his father was a miner, though to judge from the size of the house in which the family lived, he must have been an unusually prosperous miner!

Early the following morning the newborn baby was carried across the town ditch and into the church of St Peter and St Paul, where he was christened in the font under the church tower and given the name Martin, because the day was the feast day of St Martin of Tours.

The family moved to Mansfeld the following year, which ended Martin's association with the town of Eisleben until he became famous, after which the city fathers clamoured for his influence to be used on behalf of his birthplace in its disputes with its overlord. One one of thes visits, in February 1546, he died, apparently of a stroke.

The house where Luther was born, the church where he was christened and the house where he died are carefully preserved in the town, the two houses as museums and the church as a functioning place of worship which is kindly opened to the public by its congregation.