2004 Europe

Marketplatz - Rothenberg, Germany



June 5 - Up early for a trip to Rothenburg’s medieval museum. It’s got a lot of torture devices and punishment implements, shame masks, stocks, chastity belts, etc. It also has the city’s royal jewels and some really nice woodcut prints from that era.



In the town square (Marketplatz) (above) there’s a story clock (glockenspiel) that commemorates an event that took place in 1631 during the Thirty-years war (1618-1648). The town was saved from destruction at the hands of the Catholic Count T'Sercleas of Tilly. Rothenburg was a Protestant stronghold at the time and after T'Sercleas captured it the townspeople asked if he’d spare the town from destruction if they could find a man who could drink nearly a gallon of wine at one time. T'Sercleas agreed to this whimsical proposal and a Councilor, the former mayor Nusch, agreed to take the challenge. He sat down, chugged the wine, and saved the town.



The clock has two windows, one on either side of the clock’s face (right, on the pink building). When they open on the hour Nusch is in one and T'Sercleas is in the other. While T'Sercleas turns and looks, Nusch raises a huge stein and drinks the wine. Every year on Whitsun (White Sunday or Pentecost) the town holds a celebration and play called "Der Meistertrunk - The Master Draught". The play commemorates this event. The clock’s mechanism is wooden and has been in operation over 350 years. They only run it on the hour from noon to 3PM and 8PM to 10PM to save wear and tear. It was quite entertaining.



Ironically, the town as spared from total destruction again during World War II because American General Lucius Clay had spent a pleasant summer there in the Thirties and included it on a list of cities which were not to be bombed. Unfortunately, one errant fighter/bomber pilot mistook Rothenberg for another city and dropped two bombs here destroying part of the city. Those buildings were restored and only part of the wall was not rebuilt.



The town itself is very well preserved. The old buildings are still in use and ¾ of the wall is intact. We walked around the wall and it gave a great view of the city. The Rathaus Towers on the Marketplatz date from 1250 and most of the structures in the old town are from before 1500. Our hotel, The Markusturm located at Rodergasse 1 (below), was actually built into the 10th century city walls in 1264 and served as a tollhouse. It was converted into a hotel in 1488. It is directly outside the inner city wall next to the Markus Tower, which was built in 1172.



In its glory-days, the 1270s, Rothenburg was a free town within the Holy Roman Empire and was allowed to use its own weights and measures. A very big deal indeed during that period. Since it remained a very poor city from the time of the Counter-Reformation very little of the old city was disturbed. It was another great place to just soak up the atmosphere and surroundings.



For lunch, Joe took us to a hotel that has great wurst. Everyone had bratwurst but I opted for the wurst combo plate (below), it was really good. The Bratwurst (at 6 o’clock) was one of the best I’ve ever had, the Liverwurst (3 o’clock) was great, and the Blutwurst (9 o’clock) was pretty good but I’ve had better. The sauerkraut was crisp and tangy and the boiled potato was a boiled potato. An excellent lunch.



We visited St. Jacob’s Church where there is a beautiful Renaissance wooden altar carved by Timann Reimenschneider (below). It was carved between 1499 and 1505 on a commission by the city fathers. It is called ‘The Holy Blood Altar’ and gets its name from the rock crystal capsule mounted in the gold cross set in the altar. The capsule is said to contain three drops of Christ’s blood. The altar has paintings of the Last Supper, the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem and the scene at the Mount of Olives. It’s displayed up in the organ loft and is really amazing. The church itself took 170 years to complete (1311-1484). It’s very unique in its decorations but no pictures allowed, again.



After a full day of soaking up the local atmosphere it was time to get some sleep as we start for Coblenz early tomorrow.

(c) 2004 Rod Longenberger