Our tour guide Cornelia from Seubert Adventure Tours (that was running joke for her and Uli showing and shuttling us around) took us to see Nuremberg. Nuremberg is the largest city in a fertile plains region that is surrounded by mountains. It’s about 2 hours by train from Frankfurt and is in the northernmost part of Bavaria. It is famous for the Nuremberg Trials (war crimes against Nazis), Zepplin Field (a huge stadium complex for Nazi rallies built by Hitler), and its Christmas market. We did not see any of these but instead saw the other things that make Nuremberg a very interesting medieval, walled city.
As an American, you have to smile when reading in their tourist guide that “Nuremberg is not yet 1,000 years old, but full of history”. That’s four times as old as the United States and they’re saying that apparently in Germany you normally must be at least 1,000 years old to have produced anything meaningfully historic.
The architecture in Nuremberg is quite striking. Intermixed with more modern buildings are many old style Bavarian buildings. What jumps out is also the height and size of the buildings in Nuremberg. This building, the Mauthalle, was built in 1498-1502 originally as a grain and salt storehouse and later became a customs house. It’s just one example of the size of some of these “young” buildings.
This is one of the main squares that includes the Nassau House (middle in the distance), which is one of the best preserved examples of a medieval residential tower for the nobility. On the left is a clock structure that has all kinds of measurements like barometer, thermometer, etc. And to the right (and pictured below) is St. Lawrence church, a Gothic styled church that was built beginning in 1250.
Over the Pegnitz River, sits the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, which was built between 1332 and 1339 (over a hundred years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue). It was a foundation endowed by an individual to the city for the old and needy.
This is a view back towards the Hauptmarkt, which is the main market square where the famous Christmas Market takes place. That day (even though cold enough to be Christmas) there was a farmers market selling food and flowers. In the background is the Church of Our Lady, the first Gothic three-aisled church in Franconia built in 1355. Emperor Charles IV had a synagogue razed and replaced it with the church. In the foreground is the Schonner Brunnen, or Beautiful Fountain, which was built between 1385 and 1396. It is 19m tall, with an octagonal base, and has 4 tiers of 40 stone figures that are painted in bright colors and gold. Below, Megan is turning the brass ring that is done to bring good luck.
On the northernmost part of the city, built into a rock amongst the city walls, is the Imperial Castle. Between 1050 and 1571 all the German kings and Holy Roman emperors held their first Imperial Diets and judicial hearings here. We didn’t tour the majority of the castle because the guy selling tickets said it would be boring since it is just a bunch of empty rooms. The Kings and Emperors travelled with their furniture from castle to castle, hence why it is unfurnished.
Instead we toured the museum portion that included archeological finds, saddles, astronomical instruments, weapons, shields, and full body armor like the one pictured.
We also scaled the Sinwell Tower (pictured in the view of the castle complex) to get look over the city. The huge building on the left is the Imperial Stables that are wedged between Luginsland Tower and the Five-Cornered Tower. It served a grain storage house, municipal buildings, and is currently a hostel and guest house.
We visited St. Sebald Church, the oldest city parish church built in 1215. It was destroyed in WWII, but rebuilt, and houses the pictured tomb of the patron saint Sebaldus in a silver embossed casket. We also learned that churches in Nuremberg are not heated, not a good thing in winter.
This is Albrecht Durer’s House, one of Germany’s most famous artists. He lived and worked here from 1509 to 1528. Now it’s a museum that we did not take the time to visit.
This is a street with a number of the old-style houses all together.
Although we weren’t here during the Christmas Market, they do have a few Christmas stores open year round. We ducked inside one and saw a huge assortment of ornaments, decorations, and other Christmas-themed knickknacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment