This morning we boarded a bus and headed for the German border, leaving Enschede and the University of Twente behind. We traveled around 60km into Deutschland to the city of Münster, one of the oldest German cities, having been a major city since around 1000 AD. We started our time in Münster with a brief tour from our wonderful guide Enno.

Münster has a vast history related to religion and the city is filled with historic churches that have gone through multiple different religious periods. What is now Münster was first established by missionaries who built a monastery in order to evangelize the region. Münster later became the heart of the Anabaptist religion in 1534 after John of Leiden led a rebellion and established a democratic socialist state. This only lasted until 1535 when the Anabaptists were killed, and their bodies were displayed in cages on the St. Lamberts Church. The cages can still be seen today. The city was notably the location of the signing of the treaty between Spain and the Netherlands that granted Dutch sovereignty in 1648.

The Schloss (castle) of Münster was the last outstanding palace of the German Baroque period. It, along with the majority of the city, was heavily damaged or destroyed during World War Two, so it had to be rebuilt. It now operates as the administrative building for the University of Münster. Similar to the Schloss, and unlike other cities in Germany, most buildings in the city we rebuilt to resemble their pre-war appearances.

We spent our time in the city exploring its streets, churches, plazas, and museums. A particularly interesting visit we made was to the Museum for Art and Culture of Münster. The permanent collection of the museum contains over 350,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, drawings, and objects. It has 1,300 total exhibits in 51 exhibition spaces covering regional history and art from the middles ages all the way to the contemporary period.

The town also has features that are notable for their relation to sustainability. An interesting example of this is the Promenade. The Promenade is a ring of green space that encircles the entire city. It was constructed on the site of the old medieval walls. It has 40km of walking and biking trails that help to make Münster the bike capital of Germany. Additionally, when the city was reconstructed, it was reconstructed using mostly reused materials from buildings that were destroyed during World War Two.

We are now on our way back to the Netherlands to visit Rotterdam and The Hague.