German UNESCO World Heritage Sites Quiz

Answer: North Rhine - Westphalia

North Rhine - Westphalia is a federated state in the Midwest of Germany, bordering the Netherlands and Belgium. The state capital is Düsseldorf.
Aachen is very close (less than 5 km) to the place where the three countries' frontiers meet. Besides the Aachen Cathedral, North Rhine - Westphalia contains also several other UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) was founded in 1945. In 1960 this organization started a campaign to save Egyptian and Sudanese relics in the upper part of the Nile valley from the effects of the Aswan dam. The success to this campaign inspired a convention to safeguard interesting sites all over the world, and became in effect at the end of 1975.
In 1978 the first German site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the Aachen Cathedral.
The first stone for what would become the Aachen Cathedral was laid around 796 AD, at the initiative of Charlemagne. At first it would be only a chapel in octagonal shape and Romanesque style (completed by an entrance on the west side), and this original chapel was completed very swiftly: it was already used as the burial place for Charlemagne in 814.
In 1355 began the construction of a choir on the east side, in the then prevailing Gothic style. This extension was completed in 1414. Over time various side chapels were added, most in Gothic style. The last separate extension was the Chapel of Hungary (construed 1748-1767) in Baroque style, but there was also an extension in Neo-Gothic style to the west tower built between 1879 and 1884.

Answer: Rhineland - Palatinate

Rhineland - Palatinate is a federated state bordering Belgium and Luxemburg to the west and France to the south. State capital is Mainz.
The city of Trier was originally a settlement by the Celtic tribe the Treveri, but soon the Romans built a stronghold on the river Moselle. The UNESCO World Heritage site comprises several buildings in Trier, mostly dating back to the Roman times. Here they are: the Amphitheatre (of which a few of the benches are preserved); the Roman bridge over the Moselle (still in use, although the bridge was first built before 200 AD); the Barbara Baths; the Igel Column (a funeral monument for one of the richest Roman families in Trier); the Porta Nigra (one of the remaining city gates); the Imperial Baths; the Basilica of Constantine (now in use as a Lutheran church); the Cathedral (built in Romanesque style between 1235 AD and 1270 AD at the site where a previous church was built around 270 AD); and the Church of Our Lady (presumably built around the same time as the present Cathedral, also on the site where the Romans already had built a previous church).
Karl Marx was born in Trier, but his birth house is not inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.
Several other UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Rhineland - Palatinate are situated near the Rhine.

Answer: Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a federated state in the central to northern part of Germany. Capital city is Hanover.
The Mines of Rammelsberg, the Historic Town of Goslar and the Upper Harz Water Regale form one single UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the south of Lower Saxony.
The Rammelsberg is part of the Harz mountain chain and reaches an altitude of about 635m. The mines (which procured iron, silver, copper and lead) were operated for about a millennium, until they closed in 1988. But tourists can visit the mines to get an impression of the working conditions.
Goslar was founded before 1000 AD and had an Imperial Palace. Between 1267 and 1566 the town was member of the Hanseatic League. Many of the buildings display the traditional Fachwerk (half-timbered) architecture, and many streets are still made of cobblestones. One of the best periods to visit Goslar is the last week of July or the first week of August, when the artisans market is held in the old town.
The Upper Harz Water Regale is a vast complex of dams, reservoirs, ditches, tunnels, water wheels and other contraptions. It was built to ensure the water evacuation from the mine shafts, and used hydropower to do so. The first parts of the Regale date back to the Eleventh Century, and the most impressive improvements were created in the Sixteenth to Nineteenth Century. Although the mines are now closed, the Regale is still useful, for it provides drinking water to large parts of Lower Saxony. Several walking paths have been established along the ditches, and many tourists go the distance.
Lower Saxony has a few other UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Answer: Hesse

The federated state of Hesse is almost in the centre of Germany. The state capital is Wiesbaden and the largest city is Frankfurt am Main.
The Messel Pit in the south of Hesse was initially used as a mining site for shale oil and coal. But during the 1970s the mining became economically unsupportive. Local authorities decided to fill up the pit, to which a large-scale protest action rose. Thus the site was finally submitted for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list, and it became the first natural German UNESCO World Heritage site (most of the others are cultural sites).
The Messel Pit is known for exceptionally good fossils: not only partial skeletons as everywhere else, but also animals of which the fur or plumage are preserved, or insects with the colour preserved. Most fossils are on display in a few museums in the vicinity of the Messel village. The Messel Pit itself is off bounds, unless for an occasional guided tour.
There are a few other UNESCO World Heritage sites in Hesse too.

Answer: Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt is a federated state of Germany in the eastern part of the centre. The capital is Magdeburg.
Eisleben is the hometown of the church reformer Martin Luther. He was born there in 1483 and died also in Eisleben in 1546. Wittenberg, another city in Saxony-Anhalt, is the town where Luther lived for most of his life, and where he has first published his 95 theses.
The following buildings make up the UNESCO World Heritage Site: the museum erected at the site where Luther was born in Eisleben (so-called Luther's Birth House); the house in Eisleben where Luther would have died (Luther's Death House - in fact it was another house owned by another member of the same family); the Luther house in Wittenberg (where he lived for many years); the Melanchthon Haus in Wittenberg (where Philipp Melanchthon, Luther's principal assistant, lived and worked); the Stadtkirche Wittenberg (where Luther and Melanchthon preached); and the Schlosskirche Wittenberg (the castle church All Saints, where Luther would have nailed his 95 theses to the door).
Saxony-Anhalt contains a few other UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Answer: Berlin

Berlin, Germany's capital city, is also one of the 16 federated states of Germany. The city lies on the Spree river, and a large island is formed between two branches of the Spree.
On the northern part of this island there are five museums of great repute: the Altes Museum; the Neues Museum; the Pergamon Museum; the Bode Museum and the Alte Nationalgallerie. The Altes Museum (Old Museum) was built between 1825 and 1830 and houses classical antiquities (from the Greek and Roman eras). The Neues Museum was built between 1843 and 1855 and is home not to modern art, but mostly to Egyptian and prehistoric artefacts. The Alte Nationalgalerie was built between 1862 and 1876 and contains paintings and sculptures from the Romantic and Neoclassical times. The Bode Museum was built between 1898 and 1904 and holds Byzantine art, sculpture from the Greek era to the Renaissance, and coins. The Pergamon Museum was built between 1910 and 1930 and concentrates on art collections form the Middle East (including Islamic art). Some of the spectacular displays are a reconstruction of the Pergamon altar and a reconstruction of the Babylonian Ishtar Gate.
All these museums but the Alte Nationalgalerie are connected by an underground passage, so one can visit one after the other without being bothered by the weather outside.
Also in Berlin is at least one other UNESCO World Heritage Site: the Berlin Modernist Housing Estates.

Answer: Baden-Wurttemberg

Baden - Wurttemberg is one of the two most southern federated states in Germany. It borders France and Switzerland. The capital city is Stuttgart.
Maulbronn Monastery was founded in 1147 by the Cistercian Order. The buildings were completed about 1200, in Romanesque style - but most of the original buildings have since been replaced by constructions in a Gothic style. In the Sixteenth Century the region converted to the Lutheran Church, and the monastery was then used as a Lutheran school. Since 1806 there are no religious uses anymore for the building, but it is nowadays used as museum about the religious life in the Middle Ages.
Baden-Wurttemberg counts some other UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the pile dwellings around the Alps (a site spread out over France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Slovenia.

Answer: Bavaria

Bavaria is located in the southeast of Germany. It is the largest federated state, with capital city Munich. It borders Austria and the Czech Republic.
Bayreuth is a city in the northeast of Bavaria, best known for the Bayreuth Festspielhaus - an opera building designed for the Wagner family. But to my astonishment, the city of Bayreuth (with only about 75 000 inhabitants) houses yet another opera house, and it is this other one that has been inscribed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The Margravial Opera House was built in 1745 - 1750 for the Margrave Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and his wife, princess Wilhelmine of Prussia (sister of king Frederick II the Great of Prussia). Princess Wilhelmine (1709-1758) was the founder of the opera company in Bayreuth, and she composed several operas and Singspiele for her company to be performed in the Margravial Opera House. She also directed some performances, and acted and sang in one or two productions herself.
After the death of Princess Wilhelmine, the opera house closed down until the end of the Twentieth Century. In 1994 the Bayreuth Easter festival started, with performances in the Margravial Opera House, and it also is one of the locations for the Bayreuth Baroque festival with rarely performed Baroque operas.
There are several other UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Bavaria.

Answer: Schleswig - Holstein

Schleswig - Holstein is the most northern federated state of Germany. It is the only one that borders Denmark. The capital city is Kiel.
The most important archaeological site in Schleswig-Holstein is the complex of Hedeby and the Danevirke. Although the site was intended as a frontier fortification, it is now about 10 km south of the German-Danish border. The date construction started is not clear, but it is already mentioned in Einhard's chronicles in 804 AD. Maybe Hedeby was built around 770 AD. It was a town on a navigable river inlet of the Baltic Sea.
As the threat of Viking invasions grew, Hedeby was fortified with the Danevirke - a wall of earth across the peninsula, from Hedeby to the North Sea (a bit over 10 km). Hedeby was a city of relative importance, attracting visitors from England as well as the Mediterranean. It also minted its own coins. But after a raid in 1066 the town was emptied and for a large part disappeared under water.
This proved to be a great asset when archaeological investigations started around 1900. The site was almost as if time had stopped in 1066. Only a small portion has been dredged and excavated, but the remains were quite impressive. The local Viking museum holds the collection of the finest findings, and some of the dwellings were replicated and incorporated in the museum.
There are few other UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Schleswig-Holstein. The most important other site is the Wadden Sea, shared with Lower Saxony, with the Netherlands and with Denmark.

Answer: Saxony

Saxony is one of the eastern federated states of Germany. It borders the Czech Republic and Poland. Capital city is Dresden.
The Ore Mountain range stretches over Germany (the federated state of Saxony) and the Czech Republic. Originally the region was named the Bohemian forest, but as it contained many useful ores, it was renamed the Erzgebirge (in German) or the Krusnohory (in Czech), which both translate to Ore Mountains. The Ore Mountains peak at a little more than 1 200 m on both sides of the frontier.
The mining industry started about 2500 BC and concentrated at first on tin and silver. About 1650 started the mining of cobalt, and about 1790 started the extraction of uranium and radium.
In 2019 a set of over 20 mining sites was listed as a whole on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Most of these mining sites were on the German side of the frontier, with a few additions in the Czech Republic.
Saxony had also the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Dresden and the Elbe valley. But in 2009 this site was declassified - one of the few World Heritage Sites that are no longer on the list.