By Emily Christensen

In the seven years since Chris Knudson ’01 visited a trio of German cities with deep ties to Wartburg College, his desire to bring the rich stories he heard back to campus never waned. 

Knudson, Wartburg’s director of marketing and communication, visited Wittenberg, Eisenach, and Neuendettelsau in 2010 as part of a donor-funded faculty and staff heritage seminar led by the Rev. Dr. Kathryn Kleinhans, the former Mike and Marge McCoy Distinguished Chair in Lutheran Heritage and Mission and newly  installed dean of Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University. 

“Each place has an important role in the history and heritage of Wartburg College. In our discussions about the significance of these places, it became apparent to me that we had very few markers or visual histories available on our campus to tell these stories,” Knudson said. “Certainly, we have places on campus named after these places, like the Eisenach Room and Luther Hall, but there were no stories to accompany these names, so their significance wasn’t present.”

In the reflection paper he wrote following his visit to Germany, Knudson relayed his wish for a mural that would tell those stories, but the idea always was pushed to the back burner as the college tackled more pressing projects. 

Until last summer. 

With the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation drawing near, Knudson resurrected his wish to bring a visual piece of German history to the college. He enlisted the help of his marketing and communication team to create a 70-foot mural that would eventually be installed on the second floor of Luther Hall. 

“It almost seemed meant to be that we had a large, empty wall in Luther Hall where we could tell these stories of Martin Luther and the Reformation, the Wartburg Castle and Eisenach, and Wilhelm Löhe and Neuendettelsau,” he said. 

The wall was finished just in time to welcome a delegation from Eisenach and thousands of Homecoming & Family Weekend visitors. 

“The heritage wall is a powerful visual reminder that we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves,” Kleinhans said. “In a time when walls are so often used to divide, the Heritage Wall tells a story that unites us. Whether you are a member of the faculty or staff, a student or a prospective student, an alum or a friend, when you walk down the hallway, it’s easy to feel that you, too, are a part of the Wartburg story.”