Johann Gottfried Seume did not have an easy start in life. As a young man, he was abducted by Hessian recruiters and sold to the English Crown as a mercenary in the American War of Independence. This harsh experience, in which he became a foot soldier against his will, awakened in him a lifelong longing for freedom and movement. He became famous as a writer and tireless traveler who explored Europe not from a carriage window, but exclusively on foot. Legendary is his journey of 1805, when he walked via Moscow and Saint Petersburg all the way to Scandinavia.
In the final years of his life, however, his health failed him. To afford expensive medical treatment, he had to borrow money and traveled to Teplice accompanied by his loyal friend Christoph August Tiedge. Sadly, the spa town became his last stop — he died here in 1810. His final resting place can be found today in Lipová Street, at the former cemetery near the Chapel of the Finding of the Holy Cross.
