Exterior view of Wartburg Castle View looking out from the courtyard of Wartburg Castle, Eisenach

Woodard Hopkins' last view was of the magnificent scenery looking out from the courtyard walls of Wartburg Castle (Wikipedia), which sits high on a 1230-foot cliff in the Thuringian forests above the city of Eisenach.

"The Wartburg," founded in 1067 AD, is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved castles in Germany. In its great hall, minstrels of the High Middle Ages held competitions. In 1521 Wartburg Castle was a refuge for Martin Luther, who there translated the New Testament into German, thus giving the German language the standard written form which remains to this day. Eisenach was the birthplace of Bach, who was said to have gained inspiration from the Wartburg. Similarly, Richard Wagner was said to have been inspired by the Wartburg to compose Tannhäuser.

The following song from the 1500's gives a sense of the spirit of Wartburg:

“Where’er I wander, or hunt the white hart,
my yearning is never quite still’d,
for the Wartburg is always in my mind
and my soul with its beauty is fill’d
Deep in the forest’s leafy bower,
In the dale where the chill darkness grows,
my eyes will be searching at every hour
for a sight of my ‘Heart’s Repose’.”