“I found great happiness with you on the train to Osnabrück” – the catchy tune from Cliff & Rexonah from 1997 should be familiar to hit fans and friends of the Schützenfest, but a trip to Lower Saxony’s fourth-largest city is worthwhile even if you don’t know this hit song. We cannot promise whether you will find happiness on site or on the way there, but with the magnificent old town, a young gastronomic and cultural scene (one sixth of the residents are students) and its rich history, Osnabrück offers many good reasons for a short trip.
Even world history was written in the town of 160,000: That was in 1648, when the great European powers signed the Peace of Westphalia in Osnabrück (and Münster), which ended the Thirty Years’ War. Osnabrück is so proud of this heritage that it has given itself the title of “Peace City”. You encounter this aspect of its history at every turn.
Arrival by train
Osnabrück is a railway junction, many ICs and ICEs stop here, you can reach the city without changing trains, for example from Berlin or Hamburg, from Stuttgart or Munich, from Cologne or Düsseldorf. The first attraction is the main train station itself: a magnificent Wilhelminian building from 1895, Lower Saxony’s only tower station with superimposed track levels.
On the way in the old town
The historic core is compact and can easily be explored on foot – there are just 200 meters between the Catholic Cathedral of St. Peter and the Protestant Marienkirche next to the town hall. If you prefer to drive, you can rent a bike (even if Osnabrück does pretty badly in the nationwide city ranking of the Allgemeine Deutsche Fahrrad-Club) or criss-cross the city with the 24 bus routes.
Source: Infographic WORLD
The heart of Osnabrück is the market square in the center of the old town, which is made up of cobblestone streets, gabled houses and lots of half-timbered houses to create a harmonious whole. The historic town hall from 1512 stands on the market square; the door handle shows a dove and the year 1648. The Osnabrück partial treaty of the Peace of Westphalia was signed in the peace hall of the town hall 374 years ago. Tourist visits are free all year round, except public holidays.
Like everything else in the room, the wooden benches in the hall are originals from the era of the peace negotiations. On the wall are paintings of the envoys who came to Osnabrück from almost every European country over a period of five years.
The large chandelier in the middle of the room is also interesting: there hang so-called house marks – runes of wealthy, influential local families from the 12th century. These brands can still be found today on a few half-timbered houses in the vicinity of the town hall, in which the upper classes no longer reside, but fashion shops or cafés.
The Osnabrück Partial Treaty of the Peace of Westphalia was signed 374 years ago in the Peace Hall of the town hall
Quelle: pa/imageBROKER/Schoening
In keeping with the city’s history, Osnabrück offers the “One Hour of Peace” tour, which you can complete on your own: over 1.7 kilometers it leads to important scenes, including the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Center (the author of the anti-war novel “Im Westen nicht Neues” is one of the most famous sons of the city) and the memorial Old Synagogue (which was set on fire in the pogrom night of 1938). A well-made flyer for the tour can be downloaded from the municipal website (osnabrueck.de).
Medieval churches and a castle
As befits a city in which a religious war has ended, Osnabrück is characterized by medieval churches. The Marienkirche on the market square is not only one of the most beautiful buildings, it also offers the best panoramic view of the entire city from the vantage point at 44 meters.
Visitors can enjoy the best panoramic view of the city from the Marienkirche on the market square
Source: pa/perspective/p. Ziese/Stefan Ziese
The Catholics became a minority after the Reformation, they were left with St. Peter’s Cathedral, which looks strangely disproportionate with its delicate Romanesque north tower and the thick Gothic south tower. In the adjoining diocesan museum with the cathedral treasury, relics and valuable vestments reflect the Catholic history of Osnabrück. The city has been the seat of a bishop since around 780 to 800. The oldest exhibit, a dove brooch – a brooch as a sign of early Christianity – dates from the 9th century.
Today the palace is part of the university, the adjoining garden is the largest park in the city center
Source: pa/Bildagentur-online/Schoening
There is also a castle that was partially destroyed in World War II but quickly rebuilt. Today the magnificent building is part of the university, the pompous castle garden is the largest park in the city center; House and green areas are freely accessible. The Schlossgarten-Open-Air will finally take place again this August after a two-year Corona break – with a concert by the Fantastischen Vier.
Hotels with style in Osnabrueck
The best way to live in this historic city is steeped in history. So in “Valhalla”. The four-star hotel is located in a half-timbered gem that has been used as an inn since 1690 – the oldest in Osnabrück. A look at the guest book shows that important contemporaries have laid their heads here, such as the Dalai Lama, the Swedish royal couple, Beatrix of the Netherlands, Günter Grass and Martin Walser.
The latter was so impressed by the hotel gastronomy that he wrote in a newspaper article in 2004: “Then I ate boiled beef in the ‘Walhalla’ and drank beer, as if beer was my drink at all.” the Bierstraße, just a few steps away from the market square and the promenade Redlinger Straße. The rooms are traditionally furnished but not dated in style (double rooms from 109 euros, hotel-walhalla.de).
The four-star hotel “Walhalla” is located in a half-timbered house that has been used as an inn since 1690
What: pa/imageBROKER/Thomas Robbin
If you prefer a more modern quarter, the “Vienna House Easy” at the Stadtgarten is the right place for you. The design hotel has 1950s and 1960s furniture accents and is decorated with many photos of old VW Karmann Ghia coupes – they were bolted together at Karmann, a coachbuilder that gave Osnabrück a career as an automotive location, but in 2010 went bankrupt (double rooms from 108 euros, viennahouse.com).
to eat and drink
Osnabrück has been a beer town since 1860. But although the local Aktien-Bierbrauerei was still one of the 100 largest German beer producers in the 1960s, the location was closed in the 80s. Osnabrücker Pils came from Dortmund in 1987 and was carted to Osnabrück. In 2018 this fraudulent labeling came to an end.
Luckily there is the “Hausbrauerei Rampendahl”, which continues the tradition and has been brewing real Osnabrück beers in an old half-timbered house since 1988 and serving them in the in-house restaurant with pork knuckle and potato soup.
If you don’t want meat: off to Redlinger Straße. Between alternative boutiques, “Mellow’s” and “Snackwunder” serve up vegan alternatives such as hearty sweet potato waffles or tofu bowls. And if you want to sweeten your stay, stop by the Osnabrück chocolatier Leysieffer. The best-selling praline called Himmlische, a chocolate truffle with a crunchy sugar crust, does indeed taste heavenly – and will definitely make you feel happy.
Information: osnabruecker-land.de
Participation in the trip was supported by the Osnabrücker Land tourism association. You can find our standards of transparency and journalistic independence at axelspringer.com/de/Werte/downloads.
So you can get as much vacation time as possible with bridging days
Even if many public holidays fall on a weekend again in 2022, you can still arrange your vacation days in such a way that you have as many days off as possible in a row. With these tips you can use the bridge days as efficiently as possible.
Source: WELT/ Viktoria Schulte