2 Best Sights in Görlitz, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia

This house is interesting for its Renaissance facade decorated with sandstone reliefs depicting biblical stories. The Catholic Church banned religious depictions on secular buildings, but by the time the house was rebuilt after a fire in 1526, the Reformation had Görlitz firmly in its grip.

Built in 1912–13, Germany's only original Art Nouveau department store has a main hall with a colorful glass cupola and several stunning freestanding staircases that may look familiar to those who have seen the film The Grand Budapest Hotel, since the building stood in the hotel's grand lobby. The store dominates the Marienplatz, a small square outside the city center that serves as Görlitz's transportation hub. It's next to the 15th-century Frauenkirche, the parish church for the nearby hospital and the poor condemned to live outside the city walls. In 2013 a private investor purchased the building with plans to renovate it and open a high-end department store. At this writing, the building is still being restored, but there is no concrete date to reopen it. It may be possible to look around the inside during the renovation.