00:00You won't believe it, but this pretty normal city made history 500 years ago.
00:09All eyes were on Wittenberg in Germany. From here, crazy reforms spread all over Europe.
00:18And he started everything, the theologian Martin Luther.
00:25500 years ago, only about 2,000 people lived here, but there was a castle, an enlightened elector and, most importantly, a university.
00:36There, a monk named Martin Luther was teaching theology.
00:42Another site of great importance, the Castle Church, which looked a bit different 500 years ago.
00:48On October the 31st, 1517, it became the setting of an historic event.
00:57In 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the doorway of the Castle Church, and those documents had a huge impact.
01:06Luther was criticising abuses by the Catholic Church, the misuse of power and the enrichment of bishops and priests at the expense of the ordinary, uneducated people.
01:17From small beginnings came a major movement, the Reformation. By the time it was over, there were two major churches, Catholic and Protestant.
01:26We're meeting Pastor Bridget Gautieri. She comes from the US and runs a centre here in Wittenberg for the ELCA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
01:38Originally, Luther wanted to start a debate within the church, but his ideas were stronger. Could you tell us about that?
01:46Yeah, so it's important to remember that Martin Luther was a Catholic monk, and the 95 theses were 95 problems that Luther had with the Roman Catholic Church.
01:58And when he was able to read the Bible himself, having studied Hebrew and Greek and Latin,
02:04he could see that what God was saying, what Jesus was saying to the people, was contrary to what the Catholic Church was preaching and teaching at the time.
02:15So, many people travel to Wittenberg every year, especially from the USA, but also from other countries. What makes this place so special?
02:24So, for Protestants, especially Lutherans, it means so much to be here and to walk where Luther walked, to be where he preached, to see where he posted his 95 theses.
02:38Martin Luther might still feel right at home today in Wittenberg's old town.
02:44Many of the streets and buildings look just as they did 500 years ago.
02:53One building, though, clearly belongs in the present.
02:58So, here we are. Let's take a look.
03:03Inside is a massive panoramic painting. It's bursting with 360 degrees of colour and feels almost like real life.
03:13We see the castle church and the people milling about.
03:18Luther presents his theses to the people. Some are excited, others seem horrified.
03:26One key issue for Luther was the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church. The man with the black cap is selling indulgence letters.
03:35Documents supposedly allowing you to buy forgiveness for your sins. People gave up their last coins for this.
03:42The sale of indulgences was a gold mine for the church. But for Luther, it was a scam.
03:49Luther isn't just depicted positively, though. Here, a Jewish person is being expelled from the city. Luther was also an anti-Semite of his time.
03:57Witches being burned, also something Luther never raised his voice against.
04:04History and religious education teacher Oliver Friedrich van der Linde takes us on a tour.
04:09Places and people closely linked to the Reformation can be found throughout Wittenberg.
04:14Our tour also introduces us to Lukas Kranach. He was a man of many talents.
04:19Mayor, pharmacist, innkeeper, printer, but most of all, a painter.
04:26I can remember what my students told me when we were here on excursion.
04:29They said, oh look, Mr van der Linde, he's playing video games on a tablet.
04:33No, he's not playing video games. If you take a closer look, you can see he is painting Martin Luther.
04:41Without him, we wouldn't know how Martin Luther looked like.
04:45Lukas Kranach would also print Luther's theses and writings, including the Bible.
04:51Luther translated it into German so that everyone could read the word of God and form their own opinions.
04:57At that time, the printing press with moveable type had just been invented by Johannes Gutenberg.
05:04For the Middle Ages, it was pretty high-tech.
05:07500 years ago in Wittenberg, a new era had begun.
05:14The Reformation marked the end of the Middle Ages.
05:17Without the printing press, there would have been no Reformation.
05:21Ignorance and oppression were replaced by education and self-determination.
05:26By the end, not just the church, but society itself had changed.
05:30When Martin Luther died in 1546, he was one of the most well-known men in Europe, feared by some, revered by others.
05:44He's buried here in the castle church, where it all began.
