Lutheran Disneyland?

A Wittenberg street with the Castle Church tower in the background.

Brian's impression of Wittenberg: "This town feels like Disneyland."  I remember our visit to Disneyland - we couldn't ride Space Mountain because they were renovating.  Here they are renovating the castle church, so we couldn't stand next to the famous doorway where Luther supposedly posted his theses.

The Castle Church door,
commemorating Luther's posting of the 95 Theses --
no Admittance

But later, standing in the courtyard of the Lutherhaus, where Martin and Katie lived and boarded visitors from all over the world, a shiver went down my spine, something unlike anything I felt at Disneyland - "This is it," I thought.  This is really where it all happened.  These are the rooms they worked in, the doorways they passed through, the hallways, alleyways and chambers where the Reformers had conversations that would change the world.  Yes, this town has the charming feel of a made-up medieval dream, but every now and then you pass a house that has not been renovated in a while, and the cracks and crumbling cornices, the century's dirt and strange architecture remind you that these are no facades-that this beautiful, storybook village was the battlefield for the soul of the modern world.

In the courtyard to the Luther Haus.