Historic Cities · Germany
Rothenburg ob der Tauber through the ages
Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a town in the district of Ansbach of Mittelfranken, in the Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. It is best known for its well-preserved medieval old town, a destination for tourists from around the world. It is part of the popular Romantic Road through southern Germany.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber in 1520
The Free Imperial Town
Rothenburg in 1520 stands at the height of its life as a wealthy Free Imperial Town: church towers, guild houses and fortified walls form a compact, prosperous silhouette. The walk moves from the Tauber valley up through gates and market to St James’ twin spires, the freshly roofed gate towers, the crowded Marktplatz and the narrow timbered lanes that knit the town together.
A compact medieval skyline of stone and timber: the vertical Gothic spires of St James rise above a sea of red clay roofs and painted half-timber façades, all ringed by a continuous stone wall punctuated by round and square towers with newly tiled conical roofs. Narrow cobbled streets slope between overhanging upper storeys; market stalls cluster beneath the town hall; the Tauber river and its double bridge break the walls at the valley, and the Topplerschlösschen crouches below.
The route: 16 streets, squares and views
Tauber Valley Approach → Double Bridge → Topplerschlösschen → Rödertor → Marktplatz → Councillors' Tavern → St. Jakob → Old Town Hall → Herrngasse → Schmiedgasse → …
Step inside, 8 interiors
Toppler Tower Chamber · Marktplatz Meat Hall · Councillors' Tavern Parlour · Choir with Holy Blood Altar · Great Council Hall · Patrician Panelled Parlour · Cooper's Workshop · Heilig-Geist Hospital Ward
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
From the archive
Rothenburg ob der Tauber on paper: the old town as it was mapped.
A period plan or bird's-eye view of the old town, drawn between 1500 and 1850 — the streets this page's reconstructions walk. Public domain, with its source named.
Bird's-eye view of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, from Braun & Hogenberg's Civitates Orbis Terrarum
Shows the walled old town with its continuous curtain walls, many defensive towers and gates, clustered red‑roofed houses and a prominent church tower above the Tauber valley.
Public domain (plate dated 1645)
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