192 steps

the city's coat of arms: archangel michael in his silver accounterments of knighthood defeats with his sword the rebelling lindworm.

i seldomly looked at my hometown with such interest and curiosity but distance makes the heart grow fonder. fortunately i had the opportunity for a personalized tour by my mom who happens to work as a guide for the tourist information.

the goal of the day was climbing the 192 steps of the tower of our town hall. in order to enter the tower everyone has to pass trough the town hall. the left lighter colored part of the building was erected between 1505 and 1509; the darker one to the right was added between 1906 and 1909. the stand-alone gable is made out of terracotta and was modeled after the town hall in breslau in southeast poland.

as a matter of fact the town hall is indeed building number one.

the head on top of the door is a biblical figure but no one knows who it is actually supposed to be. the motto written in stone above it drew my attention: "only law can give liberty". i found that quite odd with the thought simmering in the back of my head that most u.s.-americans would like to cut government out of their lives to enjoy more freedom.

this figure portrays a deity of fertility with the incredible number of eight breasts who carryies a basket of fruits on her head. lo and behold my tour guide told me that according to a legend this woman is responsible for the naming of our town. the word "zeitz" stems from the old version "cici" which allegedly stems from the german word "zitze" which in english means "teat". zeitz is 1041 years old and when the town hall was build later on the citizens wanted to give credit to the fertility and goddess that helped establishing the town in the beginning.

starting our little adventure upstairs i noticed this window that climbs up along the steps and is partitioned into four smaller rectangulars reminding me of u.s. windows.

this so-called "peace hall" is the parliament of town where the city council resides, concerts and plays are held.

finally the challenge presents itself in purity: 192 steps into the sky.

the first glance surfs over the new market, one of the three markets in town. the big pale yellowish building hosts the tourist information now, was the police headquarters before, served the nazis as a place to torture people but started as a location where fabric dealers would present their commodities.

the yellow building in the center and the buildings attached to it are our castle, called "moritzburg" because lord moritz used to reside in its pretty houses and pray its saint peter and paul cathedral. the "moritzburg" now hosts the town archives, gives a home to books written by reformer Dr. Martin Luther, and dislays over 630 perambulators and items connected to the huge perambulator factory that was one of the main industries of zeitz in communist germany.

to stick with the holy places in town we can also offer a monastery. franciscan monks used it and my dad actually got baptized in their chapel to the right with the long black roof. in communist germany the cloister was more and more falling apart but recently it has been restored. the garden is really neat and the chapel is used occasionally for parties and techno music rocks the old stone walls.

the third sacred place that is central to zeitz is the "michaeliskirche", a church in the center of the picture. that's where my grandparents married and where you can see a copy of one of the original six thesis papers by dr. martin luther. the real thesis was found in the "michaeliskirche" but is now locked away in a safe spot.

this is the future of zeitz: alledgedly one of the most modern or the most modern sugar factory in europe. the sugar is produced from sugar beets and when the harvest season comes an unpleasant sweetish smell billows through town. to the far right of the tall chimney the "suedzucker gmbh" , the official name of the sugar company, has added an ethanol plant.

www.zeitz.de