Sightseeing in Herford

We woke up to a blue sky and breakfasted on the terrace before driving into Herford for sightseeing.  As we arrived in the main Parkhaus, below us on the main road stood a building in remarkable contrast to the town centre's older traditional environment - a new art gallery and cultural centre whose architect was the American Frank Gehry, who also designed the Guggenheim Art Museum in Bilbao, which I visited with my sister June a couple of years ago.

There's been a settlement here since the ninth century, where two rivers meet before flowing on to the Rhine. As a place of trade, it was a member of the Hanseatic league, signifying its position in the commerce of central Europe. It has some fine mediaeval churches and several streets of mercantile houses dating back to the sixteenth century. Some of its ancient buildings were lost either to the war, or to redevelopment, but many are conserved, adapted and well maintained for modern use. It once had a town wall with five gates, but only a few traces remain.

We walked for ages, had a coffee, walked some more, visited two Lutheran parish churches - the imposing Münster next to the Rathaus, once a prestigious Abbey of Canonesses Regular.

Also St John the Baptist, both spacious, beautifully decorated and open to visitors all day. They are so like grand town churches of the Anglican variety back home, products not only of the sixteenth century reformation but also of 20th century reforms in liturgy and pastoral care.

It was hot in the afternoon, so we went back home for lunch and a siesta which lasted into the evening as travel tiredness caught up with us. After supper we went for a long walk along country lanes and through huge wheat and corn fields, enjoying the cooler evening and the beauty of the setting sun.

Outside Herford there are small suburban housing estates, a few small factories and secluded individual homes set amongst trees and hedges in the landscape. Old farmhouses in the area are still well used and occupied, many are over two hundred years old, with ornate facades to the main portal, decorated with figures and scriptural blessings. The region is mainly Lutheran but domestic cultural tradition embraces both Catholic and Protestant, and even where the Reformed church tradition of Calvin and Zwingi prevailed in the old Principality of Lippeland to the south of Herford. You can see photos of the town here.