Guided Tour

The meeting point for the guided tours is always the tourist information at the Pferdemarkt.

 First we go down the Norderstrasse to the market place, one of the largest in Lower Saxony, the centre of activity with its covered market hall and the Sousturm. Market days are Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Beneath the market there is a generously laid-out and well-lit  underground carpark.

A striking old building on the west side of the market is the Knodtsche Haus.

Around 1735 -the exact date is unknown- the last royal architect Anton Heinrich Horst, built a sizeable baroque house for his family here. Its structure differs from anything else of that period in East Friesia.

Unusual for this time is the mansard roof with its two attic windows, which appear here instead of the normal gable structure of the 18th century. The steps leading up to the front door from both sides are striking, too, and have provided generations of children with a welcome distraction on their walk through town. They seem to have a magical attraction for children!

An unconventional architectural element is the canopy over this door, which swings elegantly to the balcony, providing the base of the balcony at the same time. The wooden canopy construction is interrupted by an oval window, originally with  roselike mullions. The window and balcony are decorated with baroque garlands. The areas between the tall English windows on the raised ground floor and the first floor are decorated with sandstone reliefs and soften the strictly symmetrical effect of the building. During restoration work  in 1974/75 the plasterwork was removed and the warm red brickwork of the facade contrasts pleasantly with the yellow of the high-quality sandstone reliefs.

As recently as the beginning of the 1970s it was considered necessary to pull the building down to make way for a modern building. Oberkreisdirektor Schuver, at that time political head of the regional council, quickly stepped in when the house came up for sale. It had belonged to the late lawyer Knodt, hence the name of the building. Supported by a people`s initiative, which collected a five-figure sum to save the unique building, he bought it for Aurich. Since the mid-90s it is run privately as a restaurant with a beer garden.

Going down Hafenstrasse you reach the ‘Pingelhus’, the former harbourmaster’s office. Today the harbour bell only sounds for a wedding! Now you can imagine how far the canal used to come. A reproduction of what this scene was like in the olden days can be seen in the museum.

The striking building in front of the Pingelhus is the ‘Ostfriesische Landschaft’. It’s a neo-renaissance building that was built at the turn of the last century (1899-1901). The ‘Landschaft’ is the successor of a regional parliament and now researches, protects and supports local traditions and culture. In 1995 the Landschaft library moved into a newly-built property which was highly-acclaimed for its architecture.

Heading off to the right is the ‘Philosophenweg’, which leads to the complex of buildings at the ‘Schlossplatz’.

The castle square, the new castle and its adjacent buildings and the ‘Marstall’ (stables and coachhouse) were built between 1851 and 1855 on the foundations of a much older castle.

Today the buildings are used for a young offenders prison and department offices of the state of Lower Saxony.

Following the road back towards the precinct you will pass between the old gateposts, bearing the goddesses Pallas-Athene and Bellona.

We now follow the Bahnhofstrasse on the left from the hotel towards the main road, ‘von Jhering Str.’ On the opposite side of the road is the grammar school, Gymnasium Ulricianum.

Known to generations of local people as “the high school” (“hohe Schule”), the school is set among tall beech trees. Every year the school-leavers celebrate passing their final exams with a party, before parading through town to the offices of the local newspaper ‘Ostfriesische Nachrichten’ for a group photo of all those now entitled to study at university. Next to the school building of 1908, which imitates the style of Weser-Renaissance building, and part of which was replaced with a tasteless annex in the 1960s, there is the former state archives building of 1889, built in a historical mood, and now used by the grammar school’s art department. The school was founded in 1646 by Count Ulrich II on the sie of the old Latin School. Hence the name of the school – Ulricianum.

Directly to the right is Aurich’s central cemetery with the mausoleum.

In September 1880 the coffins of the counts and princes of the ruling Cirksena dynasty were carried in a candlelit procession from the crypt of the Lamberti Church to their new resting place in the mausoleum, built in 1875/76.

It is possible to arrange in advance a visit to the mausoleum.

Continuing right along the Julianenburger Straße again you pass the Ellernfeld sports ground, the biggest in Aurich and also site of the indoor swimming baths. This is where the Sportvereinigung Aurich train and play their home matches. By the way, in July 2001 they played against FC Bayern Munich here, and only lost 1 – 0.

Straight ahead at this point you would come to Aurich’s youth hostel (DJH). But we turn left, past former officers’ quarters built around 1900, and come to the Kirchdorfer Straße. We turn left towards the traffic lights.

On the way we pass the hotel ‘Brems Garten’ on the right, with the adjoining concert hall bearing the same name. This used to be a cafe with a dancing floor. Still today it is the location of many events.

Information can be obtained from the Office for Cultural Affairs (Tel: 04941 / 122300) or you click onto “Kultur-Veranstaltungen”.