Herrnhut was born out of religious intolerance: Protestant refugees fled Catholic persecution in Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic, and were given permission by the devoutly Christian nobleman Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf to settle on his lands. Zinzendorf's estate included what became the town site of Herrnhut. The name 'Herrnhut' translates as 'the Lord's watchful care' and was chosen by the Moravians because they saw themselves as being under God's protection. The Count soon took on a direct leadership role with the refugees, helping to mould them into a strong Christian community, one dedicated to genuinely living out what the Bible says in terms of not merely respecting one another but also actively helping to bear one another’s burdens.
From this tiny village hamlet, a vibrant prayer and missions movement began. Herrnhut sent out 100 missionaries to the far-flung corners of the world in the 25 years after 1727, more than all Protestant efforts at missions in the previous 200 years, since the birth of Protestantism in the wake of the Reformation. (Another 1900 have gone out in the years since and to put that in context, the town's current population is just a shade under 5000.) Such efforts led to many positive social benefits for numerous indigenous communities on all continents, in areas like health, education, improvement in the status of women, respect for the weak and sick replacing pagan disdain, and so on.
It is this egalitarian spirit that runs through the veins of the town today. While it may be socially conservative, even too much so for some people’s tastes, the genuine community values of the town’s founders and their descendants, which have seen them prize freedom and gentle persuasion over coercion, makes Herrnhut a very welcoming place for everyone, regardless of religious beliefs or lack thereof.
The local economy has fared well despite being in the 'poor former East Germany', running, as it does, on a mix of church administration, light manufacturing and services, and tourism largely driven by the area's Moravian heritage. In addition to the actual town site, the municipality of Herrnhut oversees local government services for the villages of Euldorf, Friedensthal, Großhennersdorf, Heuscheune, Neundorf auf dem Eigen, Ninive, Ruppersdorf, Schwan, Schönbrunn and Strahwalde.
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Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Herrnhut - updated May 2024
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Herrnhut Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
