Germany from A to Z: Osnabrück

October 25, 1648: After 30 years of war over religion and domination in Europe, the Peace of Westphalia was proclaimed on the steps of the town hall in Osnabrück. Before that, the warring parties had negotiated from 1643 to 1648 not only in Osnabrück but also in Münster. The result ensured a lasting religious peace. Today the town hall is the symbol of the city.

Why were Osnabrück and Münster chosen as places for negotiations in the religious war? Münster was Catholic, Osnabrück Protestant. Both cities were also only a day's ride apart. The Peace Hall in Osnabrück's town hall commemorates the people involved in the negotiations. Here the portraits of 42 European envoys and rulers of the time hang.

Protestant church St. Mary's is one of four medieval churches in Osnabrück. In former times it was a merchants' church, which was also used for secular purposes. There was a vestibule for meetings and a storage floor for goods. The church was redesigned several times in the course of time. Visitors can ascend the tower, which offers a great view of the city.

The people of Osnabrück love the marketplace. It is framed on one side by the town hall and St. Mary's Church, and on the other side by colorful town houses with stepped gables. This is also where the hobby-horse riding competition takes place, where children ride on wooden horses to the town hall. A custom that commemorates the peace treaty of 1648 and takes place every year around October 25.  

In 780 the later emperor Charlemagne founded the diocese of Osnabrück. In 785 the first church was built, which was destroyed by the Normans 100 years later. After a fire around 1100, the reconstruction gradually took on its present form with its distinctive, uneven towers. Also preserved is the cloister with the canons' cemetery, a place of calm in the middle of the city.

Prince Bishop Ernst August von Braunschweig-Lüneburg had a baroque castle built as his residence in Osnabrück from 1667. During the Nazi era, the Gestapo secret state police used the building as an interrogation and prison center. Today the castle houses the presidency and administration of the University of Osnabrück. There are no sightseeing tours, but the palace garden is open to the public.

The Felix-Nussbaum-Museum was built by the famous architect Daniel Libeskind, whose signature is clearly visible. The museum houses the world's most comprehensive collection of works by the Jewish artist Felix Nussbaum. An Osnabrück native, the artist documented the Holocaust of the Jews in Europe, to which he himself fell victim. In 1944 he was murdered in Auschwitz.

In the year 9 AD, the famed Varus Battle probably took place in the Osnabrück region, in which the Germanic tribes under Arminius crushed the Roman legions of Varus. In Kalkriese a museum and an archaeological park recall the events. In addition, the Roman and Germanic Days take place here every two years, during which hundreds of actors reenact the Battle of Varus.

Osnabrück is situated on the edge of the Teutoburg Forest, three parallel ridges of up to 150 kilometers (93 mi.) in length. The area is divided into two large nature parks. "My heart is green with forest," local poet Christian Dietrich Grabbe once wrote about the region. There are dense forests as far as the eye can see — wonderful for hiking and cycling.