Marketplace Nr.9,11 und 13

At the marketsquare, we can see three more hitorically important buildings. Let's start with house number 9, also called Luther House. Probably, Dr Martin Luther stayed overnight in this building on March 4th 1522 accompanied by the escort "Michael von der Straßen".

Luther had secretly returned from his hiding place at Wartburg Castle without the knowledge of his elector Frederick the Wise. Here in Borna he wrote the famous so-called "Ash Wednesday Letter" to his protector, the Elector, also announcing his return.

According to the latest findings, at this time Michael von der Straßen had moved into the residential building at Markt No. 13, where he hosted Martin Luther on March 4th 1522. No less famous - Tsar Alexander of Russia. He stayed here in the Luther House in the preparation for the Battle of the Nations in 1813.

Of great historical value is the building at Markt 11, the town house "Goldener Stern". The inn is one of Borna's oldest surviving buildings. It is said that the margravial town castle was once located here.

If you look at the walls in the cellar and the window jambs that were found during reconstruction work in the 1980/90s, this conclusion is obvious, because they do not match any old inn. This castle was most certainly destroyed in the Hussite War (1429/30) and the subsequent Saxon fraternal war (1446-1451).

The inn building was erected on the remains and in1490, an establishment is mentioned for the first time; it is the first ever mention of an inn in Borna.

Its name "Goldener Stern" first appears in writing in 1620. Over the centuries, the gastronomy with its "famous hall" developed into the cultural centre of the town. Today it houses the council chamber and the registry office.

The third building of historical interest is Markt 13. This is where the Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte stayed on May 4th 1813, and later, also in the course of preparations for the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig, the Austrian Emperor Francis.