Stage 5: “Paul-Gerhardt Path” from Königs Wusterhausen - Mittenwalde

The 5th stage is all about Paul Gerhardt. The destination is Mittenwalde, one of Paul Gerhardt's places of work. Already on the way, you will come across the impressive Paul Gerhardt Church in the village of Ragow, which is connected to Mittenwalde. Here you can climb the church tower and visit the surprising church interior. Paul Gerhardt held a pastorate in Mittenwalde from 1651 and it was here that many of his 139 song poems were written. This particularly creative period was marked by personal happiness, but also by misfortune. He married his wife Anna, who soon had a daughter. Little Maria Elisabeth, however, died in her first year. She was buried in the church of St. Moritz. A carved effigy of the girl's dead can still be seen there today.
In Mittenwalde, in addition to a plaque at the St. Moritz Church, a statue in the church garden and a house dedicated to the great church poet were erected in his honor on his 300th birthday (1907).
Length (duration)
about 16 kilometers (about 4 hours)

Start/ Finish
From Königs Wusterhausen to Mittenwalde via Ragow
Marking/ Logo
Signets and hiking signs of the Paul-Gerhardt-Weg
Arrival and departure

PUBLIC TRANSPORT:
Start: S- and regional train station Königs Wusterhausen
Destination: St. Moritz Church in Mittenwalde near bus stop, regular bus connections to Königs Wusterhausen train station
Start is in Berlin-ABC tariff, at the finish VBB regional tariff applies.
CAR:
Free parking is only available at the finish, but you can take the bus to the start station.
Route description/ Things to see and know
Route: The route runs mainly on open, natural areas of former sewage fields, which have a special and rarely found, therefore charming steppe landscape character, as well as through park and garden landscapes. A section inevitably passes a highway and is somewhat noisy, but the main part of the route is quiet.

Route conditions: sidewalks in localities, dirt roads out of town with different surfaces.

Nature: Wide open countryside, parks, garden landscapes.
Culture: Paul Gerhardt Church in Ragow, St. Moritz Church, Paul Gerhardt Monument, Paul Gerhardt House Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Monument, local history museum and town center in Mittenwalde.

Possibility of combination/connection to other hiking trails
Sutschketal and Krummer See circular trail

Maps/ Literature
From the series "Schöne Heimat": Flutgrabenaue, Königs Wusterhausen and surroundings, Verlag Dr. Barthel; ISBN 978-3-89591-097-5
Reschke, Manfred: Paul-Gerhardt-Weg "Nature and culture between Berlin and Spreewald", Trescher-Verlag; 1st edition 2017, 168 pages, 80 photos, 25 maps and city maps, colored folding maps, ISBN 978-3-89794-354-4.
Be inspired, too, by the diary specially published for the trail, which you can take with you on your travels. The tourist information offices along the way will give you hiking tokens for each stage you have completed, which you can stick in your diary. In addition, there are song sheets with the most famous songs of the poet. Here you will also find all the souvenirs of the Paul Gerhardt Trail.