Bach moved to Ohrdruf at the age of 10 to live with his older brother when both his parents died. His brother was a town musician and organist at one of the churches. Johann Sebastian became a choir boy, played in the town band and went to the Lyceum school, where his brother taught.

This is the Schloss Ehrenstein, site of a monastery from the 8C, converted to a country house in 1550 and owned by several aristocratic families until the Second World War. The Russian army were based here from 1946 – 1971 and left it badly damaged. There was also a fire more recently so there has been a good deal of restoration. It is now a community resource.

We saw Mahan Esfahani play the Goldberg variations on the harpsichord – after drinks no on the terrace!

Bach became organist in Arnstadt in 1703. There are various sties about his time there including him being imprisoned for fighting with a bassoonist.

As well as the things in the pictures below, I went to the museum in the old Schloss. They had the builders in a photos were banned but this is their website. In German.

https://www.bachstadt-arnstadt.de/w/schlossmuseumhttps://www.bachstadt-arnstadt.de/w/schlossmuseum