Tour of Kulmbach's Romantic Old Town
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ERY BAVARIAN BREW Public toilet Post office Motor home parking Tourist information KERY MUSEUM WC i AND BA SEUM AND GERMAN MU OF SPICES Railway station Cinema Skate park WiFi Public car park Playground EV charging point ZOB Central bus station P (some with fee payable) P 17 Hofer Straße Hofer Fritz Bicycle garage Tour of the shopping centre (April - October) Altstadt Schwedensteg Weißer Main River P Public Bath / Skating Rink Pörbitscher W Grünwehr P Kronacher Straße Rest- rooms eg Kronacher Straße Schwedensteg Footpath Fischergasse German P Federal Railway G CASTLE Rest- PlASSENBUR rooms P Dear Guests, a side trip to the late 19th century villa quarter situated on the left. the work of the Bayreuth Court Architect Joseph Saint- connected Nuremburg with Leipzig. Travelling merchants Gutmannsgäßchen 16 Sutte Welcome to Kulmbach! This affluent location motivated many factory owners in the Pierre. It is the official office of the Lord Mayor. The brought with them prosperity. Spices like pepper, 1 I wish you a pleasant stay with us and newly industrialized town to establish themselves here in symbolic figures of wisdom (book) and justice (scales) nutmeg, cloves and vanilla were very expensive, so Fischergasse Obere Buchgasse great fun discovering our historic Old Town. prestigious style. are intended as a reminder that sagacity and fairness they were only available to the wealthy back then. ZOB Post office F Arnetsgässchen are essential for community leadership. People used to refer to prosperous people as .-Hornschuch-Straße Gasfabrikgässchen P Kind regards, “Pfeffersäcke”, which literally translates as “pepper 9 Bauergasse / Oberhacken bags”. In English, we would say “moneybags”. Along the “Schießgraben“, on the right at the bottom of the 12 Marketplace with the Luitpold Well P Festungsberg Ingo Lehmann, Lord Mayor stairs is the “Heilingschwertturm“ (14th century), which today The marketplace forms the centre of town life. All ebergasse 2 Röthleinsberg W 14 Holzmarkt (Wood Market) with Zinsfelder P Obere Buchgasse houses the Adult Education Centre. The semi-circular tower was around the classical Luitpold Well (1898: M. Dülfert) Shopping WC described earlier as the Herb Tower, as it was used is an everyday hustle-and-bustle: shops, street cafés Brunnen (Zinsfelder Fountain) Mall 15 Tour of Kulmbach‘s romantic for the drying of medicinal herbs. It adjoins the and the weekly farmer’s market on Wednesdays and At the end of the pedestrian zone you will find the „Holzmarkt“ Spitalgasse Klostergasse Spitalgasse Spitalgasse 17th century “Buckel-quaderturm“ (rusticated Saturdays enliven the marketplace. (Wood Market). The „Zinsfelder Brunnen“ (Zinsfelder Fountain) is 14 Spitalgasse 4 Old Town. Grabenstraße ashlar tower) and the 14th century “Fronveste“, at its centre. It was erected in front of the „Rathaus“ (town hall) in Buchbinderggasse Plan approx. 1 hour for this tour (excluding a visit to the castle). 1660 and later moved to its current location. The name Holz- the site of a former prison. The old craftsmen’s Also worth seeing: Rentamtsgässchen Kressenstein markt quarter of “Ober-hacken“ awaits you with a row „Zinsfelder“ refers to a medieval town official who collected Langgasse i 1 Dr.-Stammberger-Hall/ of well-preserved timber-framed buildings, Büttner Memorial (reminder of the cooper’s trade that was market fees (= Zins) at the market place (= feld) and made sure that there was peace, order and (Pedestrian zone) 3 Spitalgasse Community Hall including the large “Michel-Weiß-Haus“ (named pushed out as a craft trade by the introduction of steel tanks in the Grabenstraße honourableness. He is depicted as a Roland statue The Community Hall was built in the after local artist Michel Weiß 1867-1951). brewing industry and the victory of the beer bottle) Basteigasse 12 representing market privileges. 13 eighties as a modern conference and Pestalozzistraße Marketplace Obere Stadt event centre during the term of Lord Cinema 10 The Bath House “Hans von Kulmbach“ Memorial (actually Hans Suess, Festungsberg Mayor Dr. Erich Stammberger. In memory From “Oberhacken“, it is worth a side trip to prominent son of the town, German painter 1480-1522, assistant 15 The Spitalkirche (Hospital Church) Rest- of his long tenure as Lord Mayor (1971-1995) the Bath House, which was first mentioned and friend of Albrecht Dürer) Where the present “Bürgerhospital“ (home for the rooms P 11 and subsequent honorary citizen of Kulmbach, the officially in 1398 and was used until the 19th aged) stands, there was an Elizabethan hospital with Karl-Jung-Straße Hall was named “Dr.-Stammberger-Hall“ in 2008. Three-dimensional bronze sculpture of the Kulmbach chapel in the middle ages. The present-day church Karl-Jung-Straße century as a public bath house. The Bath 6 5 House is one of only eight scientifically Old Town including the fortress hill and Plassenburg Castle (the (J. Gg. Hoffmann, 1738) with wooden galleries and pulpit altar is a 9 true-to-scale model at the marketplace is designed to invite not prototype of the so-called margrave churches. From 1804 until Michel 2 The White Tower researched and restored public bath houses in Weiß Unteres Stadtgäßchen As part of the town wall, the White Tower belonged to all of Germany. Opened year-round: Fri–Sun 1–5 p. m., only the sight impaired to “feel“ the city with their hands). 1894, Protestant/Lutheran and Roman Catholic services took place Schießgraben House 9 here next to each other. Visitors can also look around the inside of Oberhacken Mittleres the town’s medieval fortifications in the early 14th free admission Stadtgäßchen10 6 Kirchwehr Oberes Princess‘ century. Together with the neighbouring fortified 13 Pedestrian zone / Fountain of spices the hospital church. Any visitors who are interested can get the key StadtgäßchenHouse tower of „Bürgerloch“, the White Tower forms an 11 The Rathaus (Town Hall) Go from market place along the street“Langgasse” (now to the hospital church from Café Schoberth in Spitalgasse. enclosed double-towered gateway. pedestrian zone) to the “Gewürzbrunnen” (fountain of spices). 7 Röhren- The walking tour leads further to the Town Hall, which was built platz The “Langgasse” was once an important trade route that please see reverse by Johann Georg Hoffmann in 1752. The elegant rococo facade is Tips for Excursions Am W eiherdamm 3 Rentamtsgässchen / Schießgraben Langheimer Amtshof P At the end of the 17th century, the Kalte Marter 8 wealthy Zisterzienser monastery in WERY Langheim near Lichtenfels decided to Rest BAVARIAN BRE rooms Public toilet Post office Motor home parking Tourist information KERY MUSEUM i AND BA SEUM build an official building in Kulmbach to AND GERMAN MU administer its property and produce OF SPICES and commissioned the baroque Railway station Cinema Skate park WiFi architect Johann Leonard Dientzen- hofer with the planning of the building. Public car park Playground EV charging point For the southern Prelate’s construction, Dientzenhofer designed a ZOB Central bus station (some with fee payable) P 17 prestigious gabled facade. The “Zehntstadel“ added on to the P Hofer Straße Hofer western side was used to store contributions in kind to the Fritz Bicycle garage Walking Tour through monastery. After 1803, this served as the seat of the revenue shopping centre (April - October) the Old Town office, subsequently the tax office. Today, the former monastery official building serves various educational institutions, such as the Academy for New Media. 4 The Red Tower Schwedensteg Weißer Main River The Red Tower is part of the town’s fortifications from the 13th century. This five-storeyed tower, with a tim- P berframed top floor, housed the apartments of the P Buses Public Bath / Ice Rink town piper and fire watchman. Pörbitscher W Tip: from here it’s only a few minutes to Plassenburg Grünwehr P Castle! Kronacher Straße Rest- rooms 5 The Protestant Petri Church eg Kronacher Straße The stately, late gothic hall church was Schwedensteg Footpath Fischergasse German P built in 1439. After being destroyed in Federal Railway the margrave war, it was rebuilt begin- G CASTLE Rest- PlASSENBUR ning in 1559. From 1878-1880 this rooms protestant house of worship was rede- P signed in neo-Gothic style. Gutmannsgäßchen 16 Worth seeing are the imposing altar Sutte 1 construction, which depicts the Deposition of Christ (by sculptors Fischergasse Obere Buchgasse Brenk and Schlehdorn 1650-1653), and the tower clock, which ZOB Post office F displays the words “Wachet–Betet” (be watchful and pray) Arnetsgässchen .-Hornschuch-Straße Gasfabrikgässchen P instead of numerals. P 6 Margrave Chancery/Princess' Festungsberg ebergasse 2 Röthleinsberg W House P Obere Buchgasse Rest The baroque outside staircase on the Petri Shopping rooms Mall 15 Church affords a view, from about halfway Spitalgasse Klostergasse Spitalgasse Spitalgasse down on the right, of the Renaissance 14 Spitalgasse 4 Grabenstraße building that housed the former Margrave Buchbinderggasse Chancery (Administration of the Principality of Holz- Rentamtsgässchen Kulmbach). At the bottom of the stairs and across Kressenstein markt Langgasse i the street is the Princess' House of 1729 (former dwelling of the Margravine Christiane Sophie Wilhelmine, who was banished (Pedestrian zone) 3 Spitalgasse Grabenstraße there by the Bayreuth Court due to an “indiscretion”). Basteigasse 12 13 Pestalozzistraße Marketplace Obere Stadt 7 The Schlösslein Cinema Festungsberg The tour leads further over the “Schießgraben“ Rest- (part of the old town