2-798-736 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Luther's Bed-room, in the Citadel of Coburg, 1845. 'The room in which [Martin] Luther slept is preserved more in its integrity...several relics of his residence are still existing. His bedstead, broken and decayed, a few boards once belonging to it, and some fragments of a chair stand in the same position they occupied three centuries ago, when the stout frame of the overthrower of an ancient faith sunk upon them exhausted by mental labour. The zeal of the Pilgrims to this shrine has been sadly destructive of the objects venerated; the posts of the bed are cut and hacked to half their original size, and the process is still going on; the German guides are even less respectful than the visitors, and have no scruple whatever in slicing off a piece as coolly as they would chop a billet of fire-wood. There is an ordinary stove in the room, and a bust of Luther stands on a table...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.