The best traffic-free bike rides around Buttstädt

Even though it was wintery cold today, it's a wonderful place to sit in the summer!

St. Wigbert is a very beautiful village church, even though, like almost all Protestant churches, it is constantly closed.

This beautiful bench stands right on the street under a big old tree.

Beautiful Protestant church from the 12th/13th century

Gebstedt is home to the largest iris farm in eastern Germany. Breeder Klaus Burkhardt has already won several national and international awards for various breeds. In mid-May, during the main flowering period, it is a real feast for the eyes. His iris fields are located in three different places in the village.

Actually (especially in cities), the Turmstübl is a room at the top of a bell tower for the so-called tower keeper, who was responsible, among other things, for watching over the city, especially in the event of fire, and for ringing the alarm with the bell if necessary. There was probably no tower keeper in the small village of Rudersdorf. Nevertheless, this Turmsübl was brought down from the top of the church tower to the churchyard, where it can be used by everyone - including hikers, cyclists and the children of the village. Have fun here!

According to the tablets, the first documented mention of Rudersdorf dates back to the year 805. However, Rudersdorf was already listed in the Hersfeld Ten List as Rudunestorf. This was drawn up on the occasion of the handover of Hersfeld Abbey to Charlemagne in 775. This gave Hersfeld the status of an imperial abbey. The background to this action was the race between the older Hersfeld Abbey and that of Fulda, which was founded by Hersfeld Abbot Lullus on Bonifacius' behalf. Since Fulda became Bonifacius' burial place as desired, Fulda developed much better and overshadowed Hersfeld, which was crucial when it came to the question "who will be the formal successor to Bonifacius and Bishop of Mainz?" Thanks to this strategically clever action, Lullus actually became Bishop of Mainz in his old age and was "promoted" to Archbishop a few years before his death.

The Trinity Church in today's Herrengosserstedt was rebuilt by Friedrich Wilhelm Marschall on the foundations of the St. Mary's Church in Gosserstedt-Mariae, which was destroyed in the 30 Years' War. The oldest button document shows that on June 22, 1675, the desolate St. Mary's Church was renamed the Trinity Church after it was rebuilt. During this renovation, a side wing with a family crypt was added, which resulted in the church tower now being in the middle of the church. This also explains the existence of the magnificent coat of arms stone at the entrance to the church. In the 10th century, the then holistic village was divided into two. Presumably through a division of inheritance. The lower village, which was surrounded by water and a high earth barrier, fell to the Oldisleben monastery and was called Gosserstedt-Crucis ever since. The other half, the upper village with the moated castle, which later became the manor, was owned by the von Gosserstedt ministerial family in the 13th century. St. Mary's Church stood in this part of the village. The place was named Gosserstedt-Mariae after her. For a long time it was under the feudal sovereignty of the Counts of Weimar-Orlamünde. They also had a regional court in the town for many decades. After 1400, the marshals settled here and were allowed to call their own the rank of hereditary marshal of Thuringia. As a result of the Reformation, the marshals also came to own the lower village and in 1539 the name Herrengosserstedt was documented for the first time. In 1715 they sold their property in Herrengosserstedt and retreated to Burgholzhausen and Tromsdorf. (Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrengosserstedt and https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_Marschall)