Reformation City: Martin Luther's Wittenberg

The life of Martin Luther (1483-1546) marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Era in the West. Not only did his translation of the Bible become the first standard for the German language and significantly influence the English-speaking world's King James Version, the recently developed printing press spread The Word like wildfire, and with it, the ever-spreading Reformation.

And the city Wittenberg, just a short rain ride (100 km) to the south of Berlin, is where Luther lived and taught for 36 years. And more importantly, Wittenberg is where he nailed his famous 95 theses to the door of the All Saints' Church, the Schlosskirche ("castle church"), in 1517, beginning the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation forever divided the face of the West, establishing among other things Lutheranism, the Reformed and Anababtist church movements and the Counter-Reformation within the Roman Catholic Church.