MAGDEBURG is first mentioned in a document from 805 as a "mighty fortress" owned by Charlemagne, the Frankish king crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III.
The city's position on the Elbe river gave it strategic importance, and it was created the centre of an archbishopric by the 10th-century Holy Roman Emperor Otto the Great.
Magdeburg was a leading member of the trading coalition known as the Hanseatic League, and an early adopter of Lutheranism, but never recovered its former glory after more than 20,000 people, mostly civilians, were massacred when the city was sacked by the Catholic League in 1631.
Towards the end of WW2, Magdeburg was captured by the Americans, but handed to the Soviets, staying under communist rule until it became the capital of Saxony-Anhalt on German reunification in 1990.
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| Main entrance to the cathedral, which is sited on one of the few large rock formations in the area, much of the surrounding land being composed of soft soil |
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| View of the Elbe from the city wall |
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| The 15th-century Peek-In-The-Kitchen fortified tower, so-called because guards could look into the kitchen of the archbishop's palace |
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| Plan of a section of the fortifications |
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| Not much remains, but you can still experience a little of how it must have felt to walk around the defences |
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