Exploring the city of Osnabrück in Lower Saxony

It was a sunny day when we visited the German city of Osnabrück in Lower Saxony. We saw quite a bit including the cathedral and main square.

We set off from Münster on the 9:57am train, after spending a day in the city.

The train only took 25 minutes to reach our destination of Osnabrück. The inhabitants of Münster must have been starting early, the majority of people on the platform were sinking beers!

A little bit about Osnabrück

Osnabrück is located in the Lower Saxony region of Germany.

The city was founded in around 780 AD and has a population of 164,000. As well as the city of Münster, Osnabrück played a pivotal part in negotiating peace to end the Thirty Years’ War.

Osnabrück was largely destroyed during World War 2, but its old town was rebuilt to orginal designs.

Nowadays the city is known for its university where up to 22,000 students have enrolled to study.

Haarmannsbrunnen

It was a mile walk into Osnabrück city centre from the train station. On the way we spotted a monument called Haarmannsbrunnen.

This monument is dedicated to the miners of the city and was built in 1909. It gets its name from steel mill director and Senator August Haarmann.

St Peter’s Cathedral

We then walked through the new city centre towards the old town.

The first place to greet us in a Altstadt was the wonky towers of St Peter’s Cathedral.

It dates back to the twelfth century and was more or less destroyed during World War 2. There is a museum next door which houses sculptures and paintings from the cathedral.

Marienkirch

After a quick liquid refreshment we made our way to Marienkirche.

Because it’s Osnabrück’s oldest church, it’s located almost in the centre of the city.

St. Mary’s Church was established in 1177 and is known as one of Osnabrück’s most important buildings. A wedding was taking place when we visited so we couldn’t go inside.

Historic city hall

Opposite the church is the historic town hall of Osnabrück. On the stairs of this town hall is where the Thirty Years’ War essentially ended.

It was built between 1487 and 1512 in Gothic style and continues to be used as the city’s town hall today.

Hegertor

We walked through Osnabrück’s old narrow streets to Hegertor.

This gate marks the entrance to the Altstadt and is dedicated to the memory of the Battle of Waterloo. We walked to the top of the gate for a great view of the old town.

Schloss Osnabrück

Backtracking through the new town we made our way to Schloss Osnabrück. This was the residence of the Prince-Bishop Ernst August I. 

Since 1974 it has been under the ownership of the University of Osnabrück. The building including the garden, sculptures and park are listed as historical monuments.

We sat for a while in the park to soak up the sun. There was a mixture of locals, students, tourists and vagrants doing exactly the same.

VfL Osnabrück

Being big football fans we felt the need to visit the ground of VfL Osnabrück. They recently won the 3 Liga championship and will next year play in the 2 Bundesliga.

Their ground is called Stadion an der Bremer Brücke and holds just under 17,000 fans. It reminded me of Swansea City’s old Vetch Field with its use of barbed wire and interesting graffiti. We visited the tiny club shop and ended up buying a VfL bottle opener.

Evening meal at Marktschänke

Once we finally checked into the hotel, we got ready and went out for our evening meal. For this we made the long walk back into Osnabrück city centre to Marktplatz.

We chose a place called Marktschänke and sat out on the main square. I choose roast beef with horse radish, fried potatoes and side salad, it was beautiful.

However there was some drama as a waitress dropping a glass near Hayley’s foot. She got away with a soaking.

Hausbrauerei Rampendahl

After a short walk once we consumed our evening meal, we decided to visit Hausbrauerei Rampendahl.

This is a microbrewery in a traditional building near the cathedral. The beer was excellent, but to our shock it was accompanied by bread and garlic spread. This was worrying as we were already full from food! But who are we to turn down something for free?

Despite being a small city, Osnabrück has amazing things to see and do. It is definitely worth a day trip from one of the surrounding cities.

We are heading back to Berlin tomorrow before flying home on Sunday.

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2 Comments

  1. There is so much history in Osnabrück and so many beautiful buildings, You have made it sound so interesting,

  2. Nearing the end of a busy week, but another good review

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