On the trail of poets, authors and philosophers...

In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in Mainz. Treasures on display at the Gutenberg museum include a reconstruction of an old printing workshop, manuscripts and graphic works. German literature flourished in the Renaissance although it was mainly later writers who entered the world´s canon of great literature and German writer have won eight Nobel Prizes for literature.

The university town of Heidelberg, has attracted a steady stream of literary greats: Goethe, Eichendorff, Hölderlin, Brentano, Keller, Mark Twain - to name a few. There you can go on special theme tours to places where major poets and thinkers lived and worked, as well as a special poetic tour devoted to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which lets you follow the trail of the author of "Faust."

Erfurt also boasts sites where the widely traveled Goethe worked - featuring programs like "On Goethe's Trail in Thuringia's Rome." Goethe was also inspired as a spa guest in Wiesbaden. The wealthy Frankfurt-born writer visited the Wiesbaden spas in 1814, along with 6,800 other visitors. At this time the local population was just 4,200 people. A statue of Goethe sits outside the Wiesbaden Museum.

Wiesbaden attracted its share of talent to the city's spas, not the least of whom was Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The Russian author suffered from an acute gambling compulsion and lost all his travel money in Wiesbaden's Casino in 1865. The playwriting went on to describe his roulette experiences from the Casino in "The Gambler".

Erich Maria Remarque is one of the best known and most widely read authors of German literature in the twentieth century. He was born in Osnabrück and with its novel "Im Westen nichts Neues" ("All Quiet on the Western Front"), first published in 1929, Remarque attained world-wide recognition continuing today.

Another author who placed his mark on the literary scene of the 20th century is Bertolt Brecht. Augsburg, where he was born, appropriately honors him with a national monument, the "Bertolt Brecht Haus" (Bertolt Brecht House) where he first saw the light of the world, and a tour dubbed "Bertolt Brecht's Paths in Augsburg."

Experience a poets life at these sites:

Bertolt Brecht was born in 1898 in this typical craftsman's house located on a canal of the River Lech. Today it contains the "Bertolt Brecht Gedenkstätte" (Bertolt Brecht Memorial), a museum dedicated to the work both of Brecht and of young artists.

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For more than 250 years, Heidelberg's philosophers and university teachers have walked and talked along the "Philosophenweg" (Philosopher's Walk,) inspired by a beautiful view of Heidelberg and a climate that much like that of the Italian Tuscany. The "Philosophenweg" at the "Heiligenberg" - Heidelberg's local mountain - derives its name from the fact that Heidelberg's philosophers and university teachers are said to have once walked and talked here. Even today, this world-famous path offers new sights and insights. Enjoy a beautiful view of Heidelberg and a climate that reminds you of the Italian Tuscany. Many sub-tropical plants flourish in the "Philosophengärtchen" (Philosopher's Garden).

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Four thousand years of the history of the culture of writing from all over the world are to be experienced in the Gutenberg Museum. Johannes Gutenberg from Mainz plays one of the main roles in this, because about 550 years ago he invented printing with letters made with a casting device and the printing press. How, that can be seen in the Gutenberg Museum - for example in the reconstruction of his workshop. With a large number of printing implements, old presses and typesetting machines, the history of letterpress printing comes to life. The main focus of the permanent exhibition are important printed works from the l5th century to the present. The highlight are two copies of the world-famous 42-line Gutenberg Bible, which are to be seen by visitors in the strong-room, as well as a letter of indulgence and the "Fragment of the Last Judgment" from Gutenberg's workshop.

Examples of European printing culture are spaciously displayed, apart from books and broadsheets, also job-works, posters, ex libris bookplates and much else. Printing techniques, the manufacture of paper and how a book binding is produced are also explained. However, being the "Weltmuseum der Druckkunst" (World Museum of Printing Art), the museum also shows the earliest history of printing in Eastern Asia (since the eighth century) and writing and printing in Islamic countries. A manuscripts department explains the development of writing from cuneiform script to the modern alphabet. During several event weeks in the year, many of these fields are presented and explained by experts in the Museum. In addition to an important specialist library and the Mini Press Archive, the Renaissance palace "The Roman Emperor" opposite the "Dom" (Cathedral) also accommodates the Gutenberg Society. This has been promoting the Museum and research in the field of printing and the book for 100 years.

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A permanent exhibition offers insights into the life, works and global impact of Osnabrück author Erich Maria Remarque. The presentation is complemented by changing exhibitions relating to this topic. The Remarque archive possesses the largest collection of material about and by Remarque worldwide.

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