Rothenburg/O.L. combines landscapes, local history and technology: Castle Park and the Neisse sit alongside museums devoted to the history of the town and the region, as well as aviation. When planning your trip, it helps to decide which aspect you want to focus on. The different themes offer more than one way to experience the place, without requiring a fixed itinerary.
Castle Park, meadows and the Neisse
Rothenburg Castle Park is one of the largest landscape parks of the 19th century in the Upper Lusatia–Lower Silesia region. Eight of the eleven oak species that once grew there remain. Rhododendrons, hydrangeas, magnolias and tulip trees add to the collection. Anyone interested in garden and landscape history will find a focus of its own here, alongside the town’s museums.
Beyond Rothenburg, you can walk through meadows to the Neisse. The river runs alongside the town for almost 20 kilometres. The beaver nature trail offers another perspective on the natural environment: this circular route, just under five kilometres long, uses information boards to explain the lives of beavers, their spread and conflicts with human needs. The trail was created after beavers, which had previously disappeared from the river floodplains, settled there again. It therefore connects learning about an animal with the question of how people and wildlife share the same landscape.
Museums and local history
The Rothenburg Town Museum is housed in one of the town’s oldest buildings and combines a town and local history museum with the town library. Changing themed exhibitions complement displays on historic Rothenburg trades, the park and the castle. The Wilhelmshof Farm Museum offers a different focus: it was established on the grounds of a three-sided farmstead and provides insights into rural life and work from the 18th to the 20th century. Objects on display include a hay wagon, a tractor, a ridging implement, a poppy seed mill and a historic farmhouse kitchen. Check current opening hours before planning a specific museum visit.
The history of the town’s architecture can also be read in several locations around Rothenburg. The Protestant church was rebuilt after the town fire of 1798 and consecrated in 1805; its tower was built later, between 1838 and 1840. The town hall on the market square was built around 1800 and extended in the Neoclassical style after 1850. The tank monument commemorates the capture of Rothenburg by Soviet and Polish armies in April 1945.
Aviation as a focus in its own right
The Rothenburg Aviation Technology Museum adds the history of technology to the historical themes. Its outdoor area displays 20 aircraft from the second half of the 20th century. The visitor experience also includes the opportunity to sit in a MiG-21 and have your photo taken inside the aircraft. Alongside the park and river, Rothenburg thus offers a close-up look at aviation.
Rothenburg/O.L. and Görlitz: different highlights
Görlitz offers a distinctive point of architectural comparison: its historic old town contains around 4,000 architectural monuments and is considered one of the best-preserved historic ensembles in Central Europe. The houses on Untermarkt date from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Rothenburg/O.L. offers different highlights, with its landscape park, the Neisse and museums devoted to the history of the town, the countryside and aviation.
Discover more destinations: Boxberg/Oberlausitz, Beiersdorf, Weißkeißel, Markersdorf, Seifhennersdorf, Mittelherwigsdorf, Kreba-Neudorf, Königshain.
Go to the main travel overview: Görlitz.
