Sights in Bavaria
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Jüdisches Museum München
Many decades in the planning, the Jüdisches Museum München is a major undertaking that attempts to come to terms with one of the most sinister chapters in the city's history. Contained within a modernist glass cube, the exhibits aim to show in a balanced, sensitive fashion the Jewish place in Munich's cultural landscape over the ages, from medieval times through to the horrors of the Third Reich and today's slow regeneration. Next door stands the quite forbidding, stone-clad new synagogue, built to finally replace the Romanesque synagogue that was razed by the Nazis in 1938.
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Geburtshaus
The pope's Geburtshaus is the simple but pretty Bavarian home where Ratzinger was born in 1927 and lived for the first two years of his life before his family moved to Tittmoning, another tiny Burg (castle). The exhibition kicks off with a film (in English) tracing the pontiff's early life, career and the symbols he selected for his papacy. You then head into the house proper where exhibits expand on these themes. The modest room where Ratzinger came into the world is on the upper floor.
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Heimatmuseum
The Heimatmuseum is in possession of a golden chalice and a skullcap that was used by Ratzinger in his private chapel in Rome, but is only open to groups of five or more. Visitors should call the tourist office at least a day ahead to arrange entry. His baptismal font can be viewed at the Pfarrkirche St Oswald, which is open for viewing except during church services.
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Basilika of St Ulrich & Afra
Another onion-domed tower, belonging to the late-Gothic Basilika of St Ulrich and Afra, crowns the southern end of Maximilianstrasse.
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Jüdisches Kulturmuseum
About 300m east of the main train station, as you head towards the Altstadt, you’ll come to the Synagoge Augsburg, an art-nouveau temple built between 1914 and 1917 and housing a worthwhile Jewish museum. Exhibitions here focus on Jewish life in the region, presenting religious artefacts collected from defunct synagogues across Swabia.
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Altes Rathaus
Beneath the Altes Rathaus (1616–22), a hulk of a building with lovely Renaissance-style interiors, you’ll find the macabre Lochgefängnisse. This 12-cell death row and torture chamber must be seen on a 30-minute guided tour (held every half-hour) and might easily put you off lunch.
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Schloss Neuschwanstein
Appearing through the mountaintops like a misty mirage is the world’s most famous castle, and the model for Disney’s citadel, fairy-tale Schloss Neuschwanstein.
King Ludwig II planned this castle himself, with the help of a stage designer rather than an architect, and it provides a fascinating glimpse into the king’s state of mind. Built as a romantic medieval castle, work started in 1869 and, like so many of Ludwig’s grand schemes, was never finished. For all the coffer-emptying sums spent on it, the king spent just over 170 days in residence.
Ludwig foresaw his showpiece palace as a giant stage on which to recreate the world of Germanic mythology in the operatic…
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Altes Rathaus
The best views of the Gothic 1462 Altes Rathaus, which perches on a tiny artificial island between two bridges like a ship in dry dock, are from the small Geyerswörthsteg footbridge across the Regnitz. Look for the cherub’s leg sticking out from the fresco on the east side.
For closer views, turning at the end of the Geyerswörthsteg then right again onto Obere Brücke brings you face to facade with the imposing tower, a baroque addition by Balthasar Neumann. It provides access to the precious porcelain and faiences – mostly from Strasbourg and Meissen – housed in the Sammlung Ludwig Bamberg.
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Altes Rathaus
Passau's Rathaus is a grand Gothic affair topped by a 19th-century landmark painted tower. A carillon chimes several times daily (hours are listed on the wall, alongside historical flood-level markers).
The entrance on Schrottgasse takes you to the Grosser Rathaussaal (Great Assembly Room), where large-scale paintings by 19th-century local artist Ferdinand Wagner show scenes from Passau's history with melodramatic flourish. If it's not being used for a wedding or a meeting, also sneak into the adjacent Small Assembly Room for a peek at the ceiling fresco, which again features allegories of the three rivers.
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Altes Rathaus
The seat of the Reichstag for almost 150 years, the Altes Rathaus is now home to Regensburg’s mayors and the Reichstagsmuseum. Tours take in not only the lavishly decorated Reichssaal (Imperial Hall), but also the original torture chambers in the basement. The interrogation room bristles with tools such as the rack, the Spanish donkey (a tall wooden wedge on which the victim was made to sit naked) and spiked chairs. Ask at the nearby tourist office about tickets and times of German-language tours.
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Bamberger Dom
The quartet of spires of Bamberg’s Dom soars above the cityscape. Founded by Heinrich II in 1004, its current appearance dates to the early 13th century and is the outcome of a Romanesque-Gothic duel between church architects after the original and its immediate successor burnt down in the 12th century. The pillars have the original light hues of Franconian sandstone thanks to Ludwig I, who eradicated all postmedieval decoration in the early 19th century.
The interior contains superb and often intriguing works of art. In the north aisle, you’ll spot the Lächelnde Engel (Smiling Angel), who smirkingly hands the martyr’s crown to the headless St Denis.
In the west…
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Children & Young People’s Museum
Educational exhibitions and lots of hands-on fun - just a pity it's not open more often.
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Document Neupfarrplatz
Excavations in the mid-1990s revealed remains of Regensburg's once-thriving 16th-century Jewish quarter, along with Roman buildings, gold coins and a Nazi bunker. The subterranean document Neupfarrplatz only provides access to a small portion of the excavated area, but tours feature a nifty multimedia presentation (in German) about the square's history. Back up above, on the square itself, a work by renowned Israeli artist Dani Karavan graces the site of the former synagogue.
Tickets are purchased from Tabak Götz at Neupfarrplatz 3.
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Festung Marienberg
Panoramic views over the city’s red rooftops and vine-covered hills extend from Festung Marienberg (Marienberg Fortress), which has presided over Würzburg since the city’s prince-bishops commenced its construction in 1201; they governed from here until 1719. At night floodlights dramatically illuminate the hulking structure, which has only been penetrated once, by Swedish troops in the Thirty Years War, in 1631. In summer, the gently sloping lawns are strewn with picnickers.
The prince-bishops pompous lifestyle is on show in the residential wing at the Fürstenbaumuseum, the highlight of which is a huge tapestry showing the entire family of Julius Echter von…
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Golf Museum
Claiming to be the second most important golf museum in Europe (after the British Golf Museum in Scotland), this unexpected repository of club, tee and score card (including one belonging to King George V of England) backswings it's way through golf's illustrious past – interesting, even if you think a green fee is something to do with municipal recycling.
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Grafeneckart
Adjoining the Rathaus, the 1659-built Grafeneckart houses a scale model of the WWII bombing, which starkly depicts the extent of the damage to the city following the night of 16 March 1945, when 5000 citizens lost their lives. Viewing it before you climb up to the fortress overlooking the city gives you an appreciation of Würzburg’s astonishing recovery.
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Hauptmarkt
This bustling square in the heart of the Altstadt is the site of daily markets as well as the famous Christkindlesmarkt. At the eastern end is the ornate Gothic Pfarrkirche Unsere Liebe Frau, built from 1350 to 1358, and also known simply as the Frauenkirche. The work of Prague cathedral builder Peter Parler, it’s the oldest Gothic hall church in Bavaria and stands on the ground of Nuremberg’s first synagogue. It was built as a repository for the crown jewels of Charles IV who, fearing theft, sent them instead to Prague for safe keeping. The western facade is beautifully ornamented and is where, every day at noon, crowds crane their necks to witness a spectacle called…
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Historisches Museum
Bamberg's main museum fills the Alte Hofhaltung (old court hall), a former prince-bishops' palace near the cathedral, with a mixed bag of exhibits. These include a model of the pilgrimage church Vierzehnheiligen and the Bamberger Götzen, ancient stone sculptures found in the region. Often of greater interest are the expertly curated special exhibitions (some of which run through the winter), which examine aspects of the region's past in more detail.
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Hohes Schloss
Füssen’s compact historical centre is a tangle of lanes lorded over by the Hohes Schloss, a late-Gothic confection and one-time retreat of the bishops of Augsburg. The inner courtyard is a masterpiece of illusionary architecture dating back to 1499; you’ll do a double take before realising that the gables, oriels and windows are not quite as they seem. The north wing of the palace contains the Staatsgalerie, with regional paintings and sculpture from the 15th and 16th centuries. The Städtische Gemäldegalerie (City Paintings Gallery) below is a showcase of 19th-century artists.
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Kaiserburg
Construction of Nuremberg’s landmark, the immensely proportioned Kaiserburg, began during the reign of Hohenstaufen King Konrad III in the 12th century and dragged on for about 400 years. The complex, for centuries the receptacle of the Holy Roman Empire’s treasures, consists of three parts: the Kaiserburg and Stadtburg (the Emperor’s Palace and City Fortress), as well as the Burggrafenburg (Count’s Residence), which was largely destroyed in 1420. Wedged between its surviving towers are the Kaiserstallung (Royal Stables), which today house the DJH hostel.
The Kaiserburg Museum chronicles the history of the castle and provides a survey of medieval defence…
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Kepler-Gedächtnishaus
Disciples of astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler should visit the house he lived in whilst resident in Regensburg.
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Klein Venedig
A row of diminutive, half-timbered cottages once inhabited by fishermen and their families comprises Bamberg’s Klein Venedig (Little Venice), which clasps the Regnitz’ east bank between Markusbrücke and Untere Brücke. The little homes balance on poles set right into the water and are fronted by tiny gardens and terraces.
Klein Venedig is well worth a stroll but looks at least as pretty from a distance, especially in summer when red geraniums spill from flower boxes. Good vantage points include the Untere Brücke near the Altes Rathaus, and Am Leinritt.
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Kloster St Michael
Above Domplatz, at the top of Michaelsberg, is the Benedictine Kloster St Michael, a former monastery and now an aged people’s home. The monastery church is a must-see, both for its baroque art and the meticulous depictions of nearly 600 medicinal plants and flowers on the vaulted ceiling. The manicured garden terrace boasts a splendid city panorama.
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Mittelalterliche Lochgefängnisse
This 12-cell death row and torture chamber must be seen on a 30-minute guided tour (held every half-hour) and might easily put you off lunch.
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Museum Am Dom
Housed in a beautiful building by the cathedral, this worthwhile museum displays collections of modern art on Christian themes. Works of international renown by Joseph Beuys, Otto Dix and Käthe Kollwitz are on show, as well as masterpieces of the Romantic, Gothic and baroque periods.
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