The theologian who started all this , later called himself ‘ Martin Luther ’ and became a figure of World History .
It will be exactly 500 years on 31 October this year that it happened , but nobody wanted to wait that long to turn it into another business opportunity . Already since 2009 the Lutheran Church declared a ‘ Decade of the Reformation ’, and since 2012 a Lady ‘ Ambassador ’ for the Anniversary has been touring the country ; her diary seems to be as full as that of Angela Merkel , and on 31 October last year the Anniversary Year was proclaimed ., a year of exhibitions , church services , ‘ Kirchentage ’, books published and special events ; it should culminate again in Wittenberg on the 31 October with an assembly of dignitaries of church and state .
Luther is dear to them , literally , since the budget which the church ’ s office in Wittenberg alone can spend amounts to 50 Million Euros , the State of Saxony also is contributing around 100 million , the Ministry of Culture in Berlin is spending more than 40 million for several projects around the anniversary .
In addition to that , there are large projects of infrastructure going on , renovation of historical buildings , railways and roads . The region is considered ‘ structurally weak ’, attracting also EU funds . The investments of church , state and private donors can run in to half a billion Euros , although no precise account exists . This is all happening since the anniversary is expected to bring a lot of tourism , it should point to Germany as a country to travel to , not only for 2017 , but also in future years .
Not only large projects have been planned and already executed by the tourist bureau . The industry has commissioned some rather curious items like a play mobil model of Luther , a small figure which has already sold by the million since last year , although the anniversary year had not yet begun . There were many laughable things produced , not to mention graphic novels or Luther socks .
The anniversary at last is not another event centred on Berlin , there are many places associated with Luther which want to take their share , mostly those in the former DDR which need economic growth , like Thuringia with the Wartburg Castle where Luther translated the Bible , but also his birthplace and place of death , or Worms in Hesse , where he was to appear before the emperor , Coberg Fort in Bavaria , where he had been hiding for a while , and many others .
The ‘ epicentre ’ of all this is Wittenberg , a small-town half way between Leipzig and Berlin which after the ‘ Wende ’ ( 1989 ) shrunk from 60 000 to
40 000 inhabitants . It wants to build a green belt around the old town , a Garden Show , which is to create a ‘ summer ’ s tale experience ’ for the visitor , but also should eventually host the large gathering at the end of the year . The number of visitors expected for all this runs into millions , too .
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