Lusam Garden

The Lusamgärtchen, or Lusam Garden, is an oasis of peace and quiet in the midst of the city. This small quadrangle lies on the northern side of the Neumünster, or New Minster. It was originally located within a Romanesque cloister, of which just one wing now remains. The cloister served as a burial place for the Neumünster collegiate church until well beyond the Middle Ages, and even today the Lusamgärtchen is famous for one of the people said to be buried there: Walther von der Vogelweide, possibly the best-known of the medieval minnesingers. Walther von der Vogelweide came to Würzburg to spend the twilight of his life there, after years spent wandering from place to place. Emperor Frederick II granted the great poet a piece of land in the area in 1220, which meant that Walther no longer had to lead an itinerant life as a minstrel. Just how thankful he was comes to light in a verse from one of his many works: “I have my fief, let the whole world know, I have my fief. Now I no longer need fear the cold in February.” Walther von der Vogelweide died some ten years later, around 1230. And it is here in the idyllic Lusamgärtchen that he is said to have been laid to rest – though the exact location of his grave is no longer known...