Behind the Disney sugarcoated musical-fairytales, there are much more sinister stories that were told. Stories where Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off parts of their feet, and where Rapunzel’s charming prince had his eyes poked out with thorns. Stories like these were told during a much darker time and were not originally intended for children. These stories are the prose of the Brothers Grimm.
The Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm and Jacob, are among the most well-known storytellers of Germanic Folklore. The popularity of their stories has been translated worldwide and is the basis for almost every Disney cartoon you ever grew up watching, but most people don’t know this. Another thing many people don’t know is that a lot of these stories can be linked to actual places in Germany. These locations, along with the historic locations of Wilhelm and Jacob, are collectively known as “Germany’s Fairy Tale Route”.
Germany’s Fairy Tale Route is 370 miles long (600 km) stretching from Hanau in the south to Bremen in the north, and passes through a variety of scenic regions. Here’s the breakdown per Wikipedia:
From Hanau to Kassel
- Hanau– Grimm brothers birthplace
- Steinau-Grimm House, childhood home of the Grimm brothers
- Schlüchtern
- Freiensteinau
- Herbstein
- Marburg – where the Grimm brothers studied
- Lahntal
- Little Red Riding Hood – land—stretching from Alsfeld to Fritzlar
- Alsfeld – Fairy Tale House
- Neustadt – Hesse
- Willingshausen
- Schrecksbach
- Schwalmstadt
- Oberaula
- Knüllwald
- Homberg on Efze
- Fritzlar
- Bad Wildungen– Snow White village of Bergfreiheit
- Waldeck and the Edersee resort area
- Gudensberg
- Niedenstein
- Wolfhagen
- Schauenburg – Schauenburger Märchenwache: a museum dedicated to the locals Marie Hassenpflug and J.F. Krause, both of whom contributed fairy tales to the Grimm collection
- Baunatal – birthplace of Dorothea Viehmann, from whom the Grimm brothers learned about many of the fairy tales to be found in their collection, Kassel where the Grimm brothers attended secondary school and where they lived for 30 years; Brothers Grimm Museum; Home of Dorothea Viehmann in the Kassel district of Niederzwehren
Between Kassel and Fürstenberg, the Route offers two alternatives:
The Mother Hulda Route
- Kassel
- Nieste
- Kaufungen
- Helsa
- Grossalmerode
- Hessisch Lichtenau
- Bad Sooden-Allendorf
- Witzenhausen
- Heilbad Heiligenstadt
- Ebergötzen (Wilhelm Busch)
- Bovenden
- Wahlsburg
- Fürstenberg (porcelain manufactory)
The Sleeping Beauty Route
- Kassel
- Hann. Münden – place of death of Johann Andreas Eisenbarth, known as the “travelling surgeon” Doctor Eisenbarth
- Immenhausen
- Reinhardswald – including Sababurg Castle, known as the Sleeping Beauty Castle
- Hofgeismar
- Trendelburg
- Oberweser
- Fürstenberg – porcelain manufactory
To the north of Fürstenberg, the Route’s two forks rejoin:
- Fürstenberg,
- Polle,
- Bodenwerder – birthplace of Baron Münchhausen
- Hamelin – setting of the Pied Piper of Hameln
- Hessisch Oldendorf – associated with The Legend of Baxmann
- Bad Oeynhausen – site of a museum devoted to fairy tales and local legends
- Nienburg,
- Buxtehude – associated with The Hare and the Hedgehog
- Bremen – associated with The Town Musicians of Bremen
- Bremerhaven.
Related articles
- Hanau (myfairytaleadventure.wordpress.com)
- Brother’s Grimm “Hansel and Gretel” (zoeymiller36.wordpress.com)
- The Gruesome Cinderella at Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany (thefairytaletraveler.com)
[…] and the Modern AgeCinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall in Fantasyland at Tokyo Disney – Japan Travel BlogJourney With the Brothers Grimm on Germany’s Fairy Tale Route .recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding:0 !important;margin:0 […]
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Sounds like a trek this fairytale fan would like to make, one day. (:
Completely doable, I suggest renting a car for it and then taking a river cruise as well. Also, if you’re in Germany going here in a must https://thefairytaletraveler.com/2013/07/19/the-gruesome-cinderella/
Ooh, I’d love a river cruise! And that Cinderella castle bears a thrilling resemblance to the one most often featured throughout my budding “Wilderhark Tales” novella series. ^.^
Awesome! Well stay in touch, there’s more where that came from 🙂 x
Had no idea they were linked to actual places – but boy – those Grimm brothers knew how to write a grim tale!! Not the stuff of Disney and more the stuff of nightmares – do you have any idea why there is this tradition of such scary stories for children?
They were passed on to the brothers as tales coming from the Dark Ages. Things weren’t as cream-puff as they are now. The stories that were written were not all meant for children and some were revamped to make concessions for the youth. Remember, people then were publicly tortured in a sadistic manner for things like not going to church. The gore factor was a way of life.
Aha – true my dear – I had not put them in context. We live in such a bubble wrapped world it’s easy to forget there was a time when children were exposed to the raw realities of life.
🙂 How are you? I hope you are well. I must get off this computer or I think my fingers are going to fall off. <3
I’m good thanks Christa – sweltering in our unusually hot British summer and very happy that the royal baby arrived safely ( just wrote a very tongue in cheek post about that today on my tuxadermy blog) How’s you?
OOOH I’ll check that out for sure 🙂 Happy to hear that we have a royal newb. I am well, busy writing as always and being fabulous of course x
being fabulous !!! good for you babe
🙂
oh that is a trek I have to go on… it would be awesome to see the places that helped inspire the stories…
Totally awesome 🙂
[…] the legend of the Headless Horseman. The tale, originally from Celtic Folklore, was told by the Brothers Grimm and retold by author Washington Irving in […]
[…] Journey With the Brothers Grimm on Germany’s Fairy Tale Route (thefairytaletraveler.com) […]
I can personally recommend the Brother’s Grimm Museum in Kassel, as well as the Museum and zoo-area of the Sababurg. Both show the different Fairy Tales quite nicely.
There was also an “Expedition Grimm” (Expedition Grimm) for the 200th anniversary of the first release of the Children’s and Household Tales, as well as the death-anniversaries of Ludwig Emil Grimm and Jacob Grimm (150), which was pretty cool, as you could discover some of the history of the Grimms and the Fairy Tales on your own. They even had a 18+ section for original excerpts from the first versions of the Fairy Tale collection.
And by the way: The Sababurg might me called the Sleeping Beauty castle, but it is named after a giantess. 😉
On a side note: Kassel itself has several other great museums, that do not primarily include Fairy Tales, but the history of city itself among other things, which is also quite interesting. Especially the Schloss Wilhelmshöhe with its huge (mountain) park (Bergpark) and the Monument (which is called the Hercules) is a sight to behold.
I LOVE when people share awesome info like this with me. Thank you. I will be sure to include this in my research for upcoming press trips to Germany. What a fantastic share.
Glad I could be of help. 🙂
[…] The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is one of the most well known folktales in American culture. It was originally introduced into American literature in 1820 as a short story from, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, by American author, Washington Irving (also known for the legendary American folktale, “Rip Van Winkle”). After spending a great deal of time in Europe, Irving was greatly influenced by the stories of the Celtic Headless Horseman, the dullahan, and Germanic folklore as told by the Brothers Grimm. […]
Enjoyed your post. I was also on the Fairy Tale Route in September working on a revised version of the book The German Fairy Tale Landscape with my German co-author, Michael Iba. Like you, I am surprised how few English speakers know of this wonderful part of Germany. In my very biased opinion, it exceeds the Romantic Road in every respect. There are a dozen towns and cities at least that are much more attractive — and must less touristy — than Rothenburg. But that’s for your readers to discover.
Thank you. I am interested to see the revision. Thanks for coming by, I would love to see you around again. I am working my way to more adventures on that side of Europe… I have been caught up in Celtic mythology. Hoping to finish that up by late spring after a few press trips back to Ireland and the UK. I am dying to do a tour of Christmas markets in western France and Germany for 2014.
OOOOH just went to your site. I have been there before, I love it. Stay in touch!
[…] Click to read a much more detailed listing of Germany’s Fairy Tale Route […]
[…] For a complete listing of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale Route in Germany click here! […]
WOW!!! Your blog is amazing. Well, I love every blog you wrote cause it is creepy. Ummm… I just wondered if you could do a blog on other mythical creatures like, lets say vampires or other creatures, but if you do please, I’ll just stay tuned in your website. And uhhh… If you are probably wondering why? I requested this because, Im doing research according to creatures. Thank you by the way I hope you take up my offer
You have to dig deep but there are posts on vampires 😉
I also just wrote about the German Fairytale route. Such a fabulous rod trip!
https://www.bebevoyage.com/blog/the-german-fairytale-road/