Bavaria
Art, History & Archaeology Sites & Museums

From 1509, this is where one of Germany’s most celebrated artists, Albrecht Dürer, lived for 20 years. And where he made some of his most celebrated paintings. Now open to the public, with optional guided tours lead by an actress in the part of Dürer’s wife. The beautiful half timbered house is not only one of a few remaining houses from Nuremberg’s golden age,  it is also the only surviving house of a 15th century artist in northern Europe. Temporary exhibitions make use of the city’s important art collection, and often include examples of Dürer’s own paintings.

The memorial site for the Dachau concentration camp was established in 1965. Initially intended for Hitler’s political prisoners, the camp in the medieval village of Dachau was set up in the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory in March 1933. Dachau would become a model for all other concentration camps as well as a school for SS men. American troops freed the survivors on April 29 1945.  In the twelve years of its existence more than 200.000 people from all over Europe were imprisoned in Dachau and its 100 sub camps, of which some 41,500 were murdered. Immediately after the war the facility was used to house SS members waiting trial.

Completed in 1938, and run as a mountain restaurant since 1952, Kehlsteinhaus is an inn with a dark past. The location has spectacular views of the Berchtesgaden mountains towards Salzburg. But many people visit because of its history. It was built for the Nazis for government and social meetings. With the aid of text and historical photographs, a series of information panels tells the story of the site. The restaurant is closed in winter, and it is only possible to visit from May to October – weather conditions permitting. Access is only possible using a bus service that starts in the Obersalzberg car park.

In the early 1950s the rural medieval village of Mödlareuth became known as ‘Little Berlin’.  Like the city, the village was physically divided in 1952, at first by a wooden fence, then later by the  same concrete barrier system that divided the two German states. Mödlareuth lies on the border between Thuringia (then in the Soviet Occupation Zone) and Bavaria (American Occupation Zone), hence the partition of the village into East and West Germany, where social and familial ties were forcibly broken. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, residents bulldozed most of the dividing wall, but a section was retained and is now a memorial and a museum recounts this period of the village’s history.

For both symbolic and logistic reasons Nuremburg was chosen by the Nazis as the venue for their part rallies. A total of six rallies were held between 1933 and 1938. The site covered an area of 11 square km and vast structures were specifically build to glorify the leadership and the party. Some of these, such as the Congress Hall, were never completed before the war, others were damaged. But a number of landmarks remain. Part of the Congress Hall houses the Documentation Centre. From where it possible to start a self guided tour of the party grounds.

The castle in Nuremberg comprises a series of fortified buildings and a city wall. Together they are one of the most formidable medieval fortresses in Europe. Earliest mention of the castle dates back to the mid 11th century. The castle was one of the Imperial residences of German kings as Holy Roman Emperors, as they moved about their realm. And it was here that they held their Court assemblies and Imperial diets. During WWII the castle suffered considerable damage, taking 30 years to fully restore. Exhibitions in the castle, designed to appeal to all ages, outline the historical context of the fortress, as well as the role of Nuremberg in the Holy Roman Empire.

Courtroom number 600, in the east wing of Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice is where the trials were held by the Allies against former members of the Nazi regime. Nuremberg was chosen partly for symbolic reasons, but also because the courthouse had a sufficiently large prison attached and most crucially was undamaged by Allied bombing. An exhibition outlines the history of the trials, and as Courtroom 600 is no longer used for trials it is possible to see that as part of your visit (if not being used for events).

Casta Regina was the Roman name for a 2nd century AD military fort on the Danube River, a city we know today as Regensburg. Very little of this fort has survived. One feature being a gate from the northern walls of the fort; one of the few surviving Roman gates north of the Alps. The stone from much of the Roman fort, like elsewhere, was used in the construction of later buildings. The reason the north gate survived is because it was partly integrated into the Bishop’s court in the mid 17th century. The distinctive Roman masonry can still be seen from the street.

Nuremberg’s Hauptmarkt square is dominated by the façade of the Frauenkirche and the ‘Beautiful Fountain’. One urban legend has it that the Gothic fountain, which looks very much like a spire, was intended for the top of the Frauenkirche’s tower. But it could not be lifted up there. Built between 1385 and 1396 (four decades after the church), the fountain is decorated with 40 coloured figures spread over four levels that represent the world view of the Holy Roman Empire. The fountain was spared destruction during WWII because it was encased in concrete. Find the two rotatable rings, one bronze, the other iron, set in the decorative filigree above the lattice of the fence.

On the western shore of the Königssee is the pilgrimage church of St Bartholomew. In 1134 a chapel was built by the Provosts of Berchtesgaden. This was rebuilt in a Baroque style in 1697. Near the church is a hunting lodge. When in 1810 Berchtesgaden became part of Bavaria, the lodge became a favourite of the Bavarian kings. Today the lodge is an inn. Each year on the Saturday after 24 August pilgrims set off from the Austrian municipality of Maria Alm, crossing the Berchtesgaden Alps for the church. Otherwise, the church can only be reached by ferry from Königssee Seelände.