Augsburg was founded in 15 B.C. under the rule of the Roman emperor Augustus. For 400 years the city was the seat of a provincial government of the Roman Empire. 

Its ideal location made it a crossroad of all important routes to the south, from which powerful merchants and bankers like the Fugger family and the seafaring Welsers profited. They elevated Augsburg to rank among the world's most powerful cities. Kings and emperors were frequent guests here.

In the 13th century Augsburg became a Free Imperial City. It grew to be a creative center of famous painters, sculptors, musicians and architects. Here the ancestors of the composer Mozart and the painter Holbein dwelt for centuries.

Numerous churches and the Dom (Cathedral) mark Augsburg as the seat of a bishopric. It was here that, in 1518, Martin Luther and Cardinal Cajetan engaged in their famous debate. It is the fertile interplay of religious and secular power that gave Augsburg its inimitable flair.