Wetzlar's Altstadt is one of the most photogenic in central Germany and an unusually intact piece of urban history. The town was the seat of the Reichskammergericht — the supreme imperial court of the Holy Roman Empire — from 1693 to 1806, which is why the old centre has so many handsome lawyers' houses and so few of the usual industrial-era replacements.
The young Goethe spent the summer of 1772 here as a legal trainee at the imperial court, fell in love with Charlotte Buff (engaged to a colleague), and turned the experience into The Sorrows of Young Werther. The Lottehaus and Jerusalemhaus trace this episode in detail. The unfinished Dom is the architectural anchor, the riverside walks along the Lahn are an easy hour's stroll, and the modern story of Wetzlar is the optical industry — Leica still makes its cameras here and runs a small museum and visitor centre at Leitz-Park.