Although George Washington never slept in Augsburg, many major figures have. Playwright Bertolt Brecht was born there in 1898 and lived in a typical craftsman’s house – now a museum – in the Old Town.

 

Mozart’s family came from Augsburg. His great-grandfather, a brickmason, had broken a rule of the day by burying a hangman. No one would hire him, and, in poverty, he brought his family into the Fuggerei. Mozart’s father Leopold, was born less than a mile away and lived in a patrician home – also now a museum – before moving the family to Salzburg. The last direct descendant died only 30 years ago.

 

In 1518, Martin Luther first defended his theses of Protestantism to an emissary of the Pope. His home for three weeks was St. Anna’s Church, a former monastery that offers excellent examples of gothic, renaissance, baroque and rococo styles.

 

By Augsburg standards, St. Anna’s is new. The city’s cathedral was established in 823. And, although most of the city’s wall dates from the Middle Ages, you can still find stretches of the original Roman wall.

 

 

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