The core of the city
For guests and residents the castle garden is an equally popular venue
The castle garden is the recreation area of the local residents. Most of them come here for an evening stroll. During the day, the park is full of visitors who enjoy the wonderful view over the Tauber Valley with the double bridge and the Kobolzell church and back to the southern city. In spring, summer and early autumn , the region shows its colorful side. However, this is also the time when the tourist traffic is in full bloom and the small city of approximately 12,000 residents gets up to two million visitors per year.
The public park also offers a beautiful view of the unusual light blue painted residential tower of Topplerschlösschens. Built in 1388, it served as the powerful mayor Toppler’s relaxation seat. In the former moated castle he met, among others, King Wenceslas. TheToppler memorial stone in honor of the former mayor is in the castle garden. Since September 2010, the park also has a Staufer message in memory of the family of the Hohenstaufen. A night walk in the castle garden is advisable in any season, because there is an excellent romantic mood there – the castle gate is lit, the lights of the city and the tranquility of the surroundings make it idyllic. Actually the name ” Castle Garden ” is misleading, because a castle of the 12th Century had no garden . Correctly, it should really be called ” the gardens of the castle instead .” Because in 1142 here the Hohenstaufen family erected their imperial castle. King Conrad III ruled the empire from here. However, he was the only ruler who actually used the Rothenburg castle. Since his two sons died relatively young, they quickly lost importance again . But the nucleus for the development of the city was laid. From the castle, the settlement spread out on the hill until they had in 1400 more than 6000 inhabitants, one of the ten largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire. An earthquake in 1356 destroyed the castle, the stones of the ruins – then a precious commodity – were used to build the city walls. Only the Blasius chapel was renovated after the quake. Originally this building was not a chapel , but the so-called “high house of the Dukes “, and probably the conference building where the king received his guests. After the renovation of the building it was consecrated as a chapel and now serves as a memorial to the fallen of the two world wars. There is also a memorial stone at the Blasiuskapelle to commemorate the pogrom of 1298. The original stone is in the Imperial City Museum . In the middle of the castle garden is the geometric gardens from the 17th and 18 Century with a total of eight sandstone figures. They represent the four seasons and the four elements . Upon leaving the castle garden visitors can see a striking mask on the castle gate which was used to pour hot pitch by the defenders of Burh on attackers. A small door in the inner leaf is installed, the so-called bottleneck, a trapdoor for one person only .
We offer individual and group tours with certified city guides for all interesting sights in Rothenburg.
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