Wing'in It: Rothenburg ob der Tauber

The name means: red fortress above the Tauber. Red refers to the color of the roofs of the houses which overlook the Tauber River. This is a well preserved medieval city that was founded in 1170. The walls and towers were built in the 13th century and much of what stood there then still does today. Rothenburg is a destination for tourists around the world and we'd heard about it since we first arrived. Last week we decided to go and visit it for ourselves.

We parked in a public parking lot and entered the city at St. Wolfgang's Church.

Klingen Gate

This is the church and the sentry's house. St. Wolfgang's Church is also known as the Sheepherder's Church. It was built between 1475 and 1492 and is part of the fortress at Klingen Gate. The sentry's house is now used as a dance chamber.

It's only got a small steeple instead of a tall, Gothic spire. It does have underground casements and a rampart in the loft, though, and there's a dungeon underneath the church. (A rampart by the way is a defensive wall...just in case anyone was wondering.)

The wall around St. Wolfgang's Church is also part of the wall that goes around the city. Sheep herding and wool trade played a central role in the economy of medieval Rothenburg. The shepherds worshipped in St. Wolfgang's Church, (hence the second name of Sheepherder's Church.)

People live in Rothenburg...merchants and residents alike, but the automobile traffic is greatly restricted and there are many rules in place to keep much of the medieval feel of the city intact. It was a good thing we had on our good walking shoes because we walked all over the place.

St Jakob's Church is dedicated to the Apostle St. James. It was an important church in its early days because it was one of the churches on the pilgrimage route to the grave of St. James in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. St. James (Jakob in German) was the patron saint of the pilgrims and merchants; he carried a pilgrim staff and had the St. James scallop on his hat.

It was originally built as a Catholic church between 1311 - 1322, but became a Lutheran church in 1544 after the Protestant Reformation. It is the largest of the churches in Rothenburg.

The vaulted ceilings inside the church. They perform many concerts here and St. Jakob's is quite stunning.

This is Klingenstrasse, (which means Klingen Street,) and it goes right through an arch in St. Jakob's Church.

There were many shops and outside cafe's along the streets of the city.

This is the Burgturm behind me and Scott in this photo. It is the tallest of all the gate towers in Rothenburg.

The white tower belongs to the old city hall.

Here is the Burgturm...

...and going through it.

Here's a great view of Maya's mohawk from the back. Not quite medieval perhaps? Eh...maybe not.

This is the Burgtor, (or castle gate,) and it leads to the Burggarten where the Rothenburg Castle once stood. The castle was built in 1070, but was destroyed in an earthquake in 1356. These two round buildings are the former guard house and customs house where travelers entering the town from the Tauber valley had to pay a toll.

The castle gardens were amazing, even so early in the spring. I can only imagine what it looks like when all the trees have their leaves.

The Tauber Valley.

The tower in the middle is called Sieber's.

Back inside and out of the garden...but there's still so much ivy all over the buildings.

Here is a Dunking Stool at the Criminal Museum. These were usually used for wayward women and sometimes hung over water. They'd get dunked every so often which doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to me.

Medieval cop cars at the Criminal Museum.

Crossing over the bridge next to the Spital Bastion at the southern end of town. The Spital Bastion, (or hospital fortification,) was built around 1586. It has two inner courtyards and an adjacent moat. It was used to protect the city from invaders as well as a hospital.

The bridge we crossed is up on the left. This is the courtyard with the Spital Bastion to the right and above it, the Spital Tower.

The Spital Bastion.

Inside the Spital Bastion it was cool and dark. There were, of course, stairs. There are always stairs. :)

Me and the Spital Tower. Then back up some steps and inside once again.

There were cannons and horse-drawn carts...without the horses.

Then we went up some more stairs....

...and out this little door...

...to walk along the path that was built into the wall that surrounds the city.

We got to see all the red roofs that gave Rothenburg it's name.

We had a lot of headroom here, but there were places as we moved along that were much less airy. We decided that medieval Germans might have been a bit shorter than they are now.

The tower on the right is called the Faulturm. It's name translates to Rotten Tower. The Rotten Tower gets its name from the fact that bodies of criminals were left to rot underneath it. Yikes. This tower is the highest of the many round towers in Rothenburg and it is as deep as it is tall. Aren't you happy that I'm here to enlighten you about all these interesting details? I'll just bet you are. :)

The Marktplatz, or market place. Keep going straight and then to right of the building with the green tower, (which is the Ratsherrentrink, or the City Councilor's Tavern,) and that's were we had lunch.

The Rathaus, or Town Hall. The white building is the older one, the one attached to it and to the right is the newer one.

The spires of St. Jakob's Church in the background. The clock on the Councilor's Tavern was installed in 1683. The windows on each side of the clock open on the hour and the scene of the Meistertrunk is played. Former mayor Nusch is shown drinking 3 and a quarter liters of Franconian wine from a huge tankard, while General Tilly watches in amazement. According to legend, Nusch saved the town from destruction by performing this feat on October 31, 1631 during the Thirty Years War. We were not in the Marktplatz on the hour apparently because we did not see or hear this. We may have to go back just to witness it, though...it sounds somewhat amusing.

Tired kids waiting at the cafe where we had lunch. We walked a lot!

We had a German version of pizza here at the cafe. It was served on a huge, oval shaped piece of bread that had been toasted. The kids had salami pepperoni on theirs, which was pretty spicy, and Steven and I each had vegetable pizzas with red and yellow peppers, mushrooms and some yummy spices.