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Travelogue Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

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• Rothenburg ob der Tauber

External Links

• Map of Walking Tour
• City of Rothenburg [www.rothenburg.de]
• Rothenburg Tourist [www.rothenburg-tourist.de]

Rothenburg Weather

On May Day 2009 we got the idea to do a day trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Thus we got into the car and drove 150 km (93 mi) to do so.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber – Short Overview

Rothenburg ob der Tauber — The Central Franconian town (11,200 inhabitants) arose at the end of the 12th century – protected by a castle. Even today the historical city centre is surrounded by a defence wall, that goes back to the 14th century. 43 towers of the wall remained, the battlement parapet is even passable.

Rothenburg has become the embodiment of Germany’s romantic past. No wonder that the medieval old town with its tiny cobbled alleyways, half-timbered houses and picturesque churches and towers attracts 2.5 millions of day trippers every year, of which 50 % are foreign tourists (especially Japanese and Americans).

Walking Tour Through the Medieval Old Town

[Fri, 1 May 2009] — At about 3 pm we reach Rothenburg ob der Tauber. We park our car near the Powder Tower (Pulverturm) and walk to Schrannen­platz. Here you can get on one of the carriages to do a sightseeing tour. But we prefer to walk and turn into Schrannen­gasse. At the corner of Georgen­gasse we have a marvellous view on the White Tower (Weißer Turm), a 12th century city gate. We follow Markt Street till we reach the tourist information, where we get a free city map. Then we proceed to Market Square (Marktplatz).

The picturesque St. George’s Fountain, which is also called Heterichs Well (Georgs­brunnen or Heterichs­brunnen), is located on the south end of Market Square. Due to the city’s location on a plateau (425 m resp. 1,395 ft above sea level), its water supply was a major problem. Over 40 fountains were built to ensure the water supply for both drinking and fire purposes. Cities in the Middle Ages were built with very narrow streets and the materials used made fires the greatest hazard for any community. The St. George’s fountain is 8 m (26 ft) deep with a capacity of 100,000 litres (26,417 gallons) and is the largest in the city. The fountain’s decorations date back to the Late Renaissance (1608).

At the Gothic Town Hall, erected between 1250 and 1400, we turn right into Herrngasse.

In Hofbronnengasse we try one of Rothenburg’s specialities, a snowball (Schneeballen). We take one with milk chocolate topping and eggnog filling (€ 2.80). I’ve tried a snowball before – at the Old Town Festival 2007 in Gifhorn. Last time I didn’t choose well, but this one tastes delicious.

Munching the snowball we proceed to Käthe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas Village (Weihnachtsdorf). In the shop you get everything that belongs to German Christmas tradition. The assortment ranges from straw, wood and glass tree decorations as well as smokers, Christmas pyramids, nativity figurines, nutcrackers to tablecloths and paper napkins. A nutcracker as high as a man welcomes us at the entrance. After we have swallowed up the last bite of the snowball we step through the glass door to enter the salesroom. It is lit softly and emits an enchanting atmosphere. The goods shelves are located in small, cotton-capped half-timbered houses, which are arranged in the semicircle around a 5-metres (16-feet) high white artificial Christmas tree. The air is filled with a heavy scent of gingerbread and incense cones, German folk music tootles in the background.

A staircase leads to the upper floor, where the German Christmas Museum (admission € 4) is housed. We give the museum a miss! It is strange enough to stroll through a Christmas shop in May – a time I don’t even like to think of the Christmas bustle – all the more that the store is open all year round. Indeed, the store seems to be a great hit, above all for foreign tourists. So I could read that a visit of Rothenburg’s Christmas Village is on the agenda of many American and Japanese visitors who come to see Germany. That explains why the articles in the shop are not only labelled in German but in English and Japanese, too. Indeed, tourists from all over the world are welcome, but just for shopping not to do sightseeing. Hence, taking pictures or filming is prohibited in the sales rooms. Countless shop assistants in national costume clothes, who seem to be omnipresent, take care that all visitors keep to it.

Back on the street we jog to the Franciscan Church (Franziskanerkirche). The former monastery church is the oldest church in Rothenburg. This Early Gothic style church was erected in 1285 and holds the Tilmann Riemenschneider St. Francis Altar.

Through the Castle Gate (Burgtor) we reach the Castle Gardens (Burggarten). Actually the name is a little misleading, since fortresses in the 12th century did not have gardens. It would be more correct to say “the gardens in the former place of the fortress”. Here the Hohenstaufen family erected their Imperial Castle in 1142 and King Konrad III ruled his empire from this castle. Since both of his sons died very young, the castle lost its importance rather soon afterwards. However, the foundation for the city was laid. The community grew and spread over the hill until it became one of the ten largest cities of the Holy Roman Empire. Around the year 1400 it contained more than 6,000 inhabitants. In 1356 an earthquake destroyed the old castle. The remains of the castle’s ruins provided valuable construction material that was used to build the city’s defence wall. From the south side of the Castle Gardens one has a magnificent scenic view on the valley and the southern part of the town, the so called Kappen­zipfel.

Burggasse leads us to the Medieval Crime Museum (Mittel­alter­liches Kriminal­museum) (admission € 3.80). The famous law and law enforcement museum gives an insight to 1,000 years of European legal history. How different the rules were and what practical results they had on people, in German-speaking Europe between the 12th and 19th century, are comprehensively documented on six floors.

Behind the cash desk we descend some stairs that leads to the basement. First the course of the medieval criminal procedure is described on several blackboards. Displays show torture instruments, and instruments for corporal punishments or death penalties. In the upper floors we see instruments of shame punishments such as neck violins, shame masks and drunkards tanks. The exhibition is perfected by medieval documents and appropriate seals and law books, which were necessary for the legal force of the documents. As the museum is not crowded, it takes just one and a half hour to do a tour. We exit through the courtyard.

At St. John’s Church (Johanniskirche) we turn to Schmiedegasse und reach Plönlein (Little Square). The Plönlein is one of the most charming medieval sights in Germany. Two important access ways form a small triangular square with one small road coming from the right, directly from the Tauber valley Double Bridge (Doppelbrücke). Another comes from the left, the southern part of suburban Rothenburg. Siebers Tower (Siebersturm), which is just behind Plönlein, dates back to around 1385 and was part of the second fortification, an extension of the first. The smaller gate towards the valley on the right is called Kobozell Gate (Kobolzeller Tor) and was built around 1360. It is part of one of the most interesting fortifications in Rothenburg with its own inner courtyard and formerly four gates.

Through Siebers Tower (Siebersturm) we reach the southern point of the town, Kappenzipfel. Now we are in Spitalgasse, which received its name from the former hospital, which lies in the lane. At the end of Spitalgasse the Spital Bastion (Spitalbastei) is located. It forms the southern end of the city wall and is the most imposing bulwark of Rothenburg. The bastion was built during the 17th century and has two inner courtyards, seven gates and an upper walkway with embrasures. The well preserved and imposing dry moat shows that not only walls protected the city. Often attackers failed during the attempt to cross the moats.

We climb up a narrow staircase to get to the battlement parapet. This part of the defence wall – as well as the eastern part of the city – was totally destroyed during the aerial bombing on 31 March 1945. The reconstruction took almost 20 years. As we stroll along the sentry walk we find several small plaques with names and metre inscriptions. These identify the donors who financed the renovation of the defence wall.

About 300 metres further down, right next to the wall, we admire the Gerlachschmiede (Old Forge) at Röderschütt, a building with an extremely charming ornamental hall-timbered gable.

After we have walked several metres on the narrow, low parapet (whose clearance is less than 1.8 m (6 ft) at some parts) we descend to the sidewalk. Passing the inner city wall we finally return to our car.

Conclusion: Our tour through the fantastic old city, including a visit of the Christmas Village and the Medieval Crime Museum has lasted four hours. During this time we have covered a distance of 3 km (1.9 mi). Rothenburg’s old town is truly unique and definitely worth a visit.