3. Ohrdruf
Ohrdruf is the smallest of the Bach towns and has only 6,200 inhabitants. The
drive from Eisenach to Ohrdruf, along the edge of the Thuringian Forrest, is
a real pleasure. Ohrdruf itself is located at a somewhat flatter section of
this area and is a not very remarkable town.
In fact, its greatest charm, in
my opinion, is its old-fashioned character, as if one enters the Europe of
40 years ago (there are a few places like that in the USA, like Salem,
Massachusetts). For Dutch tourists, it is also interesting to know that
Ohrdruf's history goes back to a Benedictine monastery, founded in AD 724
by Anglo-Saxon monks under the direction of Bonifatius, one of the main
Christianizers of The Netherlands, who was killed by the courageous
Frisians in 754 at Dokkum, West of Groningen.
Like in many other towns of the former German Democratic
Republic, the whole downtown section was under reconstruction at the time
of our visit, with many newly opened shops as signs of the recently
acquired blessings of capitalism.
Bach sites are not easy to find in this town. Sebastian's brother Johann
Christoph was organist at the Michaeliskirche, 
but only a fragment of its
tower has been preserved (with a library at the second floor) at the
Michaelisplatz (picture on the left). The church burnt down in 1753, was rebuilt several
times, but was finally destroyed by a bombardment at the end of the
Second World War (1945). It is at the corner of the Johann Sebastian Bach
Strasse (see picture on the right, above), where Johann Christoph's house used to be. The house has disappeared
and only a memorial tablet reminds the tourist of the site's glorious role in the history of music.
Apparently, Ohrdruf is not used to tourism at all because it was very hard to
find post cards (if you are desperate, the best places to look for
cards are bookstores and the like).
Table of Contents
Further information:
Go to the map or to Bach's biography (Ohrdruf).
Go to the J.S. Bach Home Page