Soest: City History, Church Art and Fair

Soest brings together medieval city history and church art with digital discovery experiences and traditional festivals. The All Saints’ Fair transforms the old town for five days in November; historic buildings, museums and churches add further highlights. When planning your trip, it makes a difference whether you focus on the historic sites or plan your visit specifically around the fair.

Walls, city gates and early homes

Two thirds of Soest’s town wall have survived. The wall is accessible to visitors and lined with trees, and—alongside the complex in Lucca, Tuscany—is said to be the only other structure of its kind in Europe. The Osthofentor also tells the story of the city’s former fortifications: it is the only surviving one of the ten gates that once stood in Soest’s town walls. Master builder Porphyrius erected it between 1523 and 1526, replacing an earlier building.

The Romanesque House is located in the Burghof. Part of an originally larger house has survived; it is considered one of the oldest surviving secular residential buildings in Westphalia. The Burghof Museum’s 700 square metres of exhibition space are divided into five departments. Its subjects also include everyday life in the Middle Ages. In Soest, you can therefore explore history from several perspectives: the surviving city fortifications, an early residential building and the museum exhibition.

Church art and seasonal highlights

St. Maria zur Wiese, also known as Wiesenkirche, is renowned for its choir windows featuring 14th-century stained glass, regarded as the most significant in Westphalia. The church is also associated with the “Westphalian Last Supper”, created around 1500. The provost church of St. Patrokli is also known in Soest as the “cathedral”. During the Christmas season, the “Westphalian Nativity Scene” there is especially worth seeing.

These highlights offer different focal points for a cultural stay: at Wiesenkirche, the focus is on the stained glass and the “Westphalian Last Supper”, while St. Patrokli offers a distinctly seasonal highlight with its nativity scene. If you plan your trip around this, include the Christmas season.

Explore the old town and experience its festivals

There are two digital experiences for discovering the old town, each designed differently. The “Historic Soest” scavenger hunt takes you through the old town, with 16 stops along the way. The free SoesTour tourism app offers a GPS-guided journey of discovery through its lanes and corners. The scavenger hunt follows a sequence of stops; the app uses GPS to guide you through the fabric of the old town.

The Soest All Saints’ Fair has a character all its own: for almost 700 years, every November it has transformed the old town into a fairground for five days, attracting around one million visitors. At the “Soester Fehde” medieval festival, the moats become a medieval military camp, while the old town is transformed into a medieval scene. Across the wider Soest destination, the festival takes place every two years and brings together more than 900 participants from twelve European nations. If you plan your trip around the “Soester Fehde”, check the event dates and programme in advance.

A guided tour with a culinary focus

The Soest Menu Safari combines a guided city tour with a four-course meal served at four different restaurants. One of the two starters is the Soest speciality known as the “Westphalian Last Supper”. You can therefore encounter this same motif both at Wiesenkirche and as part of a culinary experience—two distinct contexts that bring culture and food together in Soest, while the Menu Safari retains its own format as a guided tour.

The wider Soest destination

The wider Soest destination, the Soest district, takes you beyond the city. The region’s landscape includes river meadows, the fields and meadows of the Soester Börde, extensive woodland, villages and historic towns. Leisure activities in the district include cycling, hiking, water sports, climbing, skydiving, gliding and relaxing in gardens.

The LiebesLeben_Museum in Soest is also part of this broader view of the destination. It describes itself as a modern science centre focused on participation, interaction, experimentation and learning, and welcomes people aged five to 95. The Soest climbing park has specific participation requirements: on days when it is open, it is accessible to people at least 1.40 metres tall. Children at least 1.30 metres tall and aged six or older may use courses 1 and 2 when accompanied by an adult. Check the requirements before your visit.

Discover more destinations

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To the wider travel overview: Soest.