Augsburg

Travel times from Freiburg:
Train – 4 ½ hours
Car – 3 hours

Founded by Emperor Augustus in 15 B.C., Augsburg got its start as a Roman military camp and became a Roman provincial capital for more than 400 years. By the 15th century, it was one of Europe’s wealthiest and most important merchant cities. Having developed over two millennia, this town’s distinct cityscape was shaped by all the great stylistic epochs. Great buildings, monumental fountains, lavishly laid-out streets, and ultramodern architecture attest to the city’s tradition of cosmopolitan bounty. Its long history has allowed time to develop unique holiday traditions as well.

Set against the unique background of the City Hall and Perlach tower, the Christkindlesmarkt radiates the charm of the holiday season with more than 500 years of tradition. Enticing culinary delights, attractive handcrafts, and hot mulled wine are offered at the 135 festively decorated booths.

The Christkindlesmarkt’s 25-foot-tall Christmas pyramid is especially striking with its figures of angels, alluding to Augsburg’s traditional angel performance. Every weekend evening, the impressive City Hall turns into a huge Advent calendar as twenty-four angels make music while standing in the windows of the Renaissance structure.

Another holiday festivity relays a traditional holiday story on the Augsburg fairy tale street. The story of The Nutcracker is relived in ten extravagantly designed scenes in shop windows all around the Christmas market.

Entertainment for the little ones is offered at the children’s land “Unter’m Sternenhimmel” (“Under the Starry Sky”) at Moritz Square. Special attractions include a puppet theater, a big merry-go-round glowing with Christmas lights, and the large sugar castle from The Nutcracker where children can draw, bake and work on crafts.

Other small markets invite visitors to linger, look and buy. The “Weihnachtsinsel” (“Christmas Island”) in front of the Zeughaus with musicians, storytellers and puppeteers; the Weihnachtsmarkt in the “Alte Silberschmiede” (“Old Silversmith”); and the Christmas tree market in the Fuggerei.
Take time to explore Augburg’s unique features that can be credited to the pre-mercantile times of Roman soldiers. The city’s wall dates from the Middle Ages, but you can still find traces of the Romans’ handiwork in stretches of the original wall. They were also responsible for the city’s intricate canal system. By one count, as many as 600 bridges cross the still-intact waterways – more, Augsburgers claim, than in Venice or Amsterdam. Be sure you don’t miss the Roman Museum, a church of the former St. Magdalena monastery with prehistoric exhibits and interesting finds from the Roman Empire.
The Renaissance imparted magnificent beauty on Augsburg’s façade. It is even nicknamed the “German Renaissance City.” The majesty of this era is still very much alive here in the architecture of the monumental Rathaus (City Hall). This imposing Renaissance masterpiece was built from 1615 to 1620 by Elias Holl as an expression of the Free Imperial City’s civic pride. Enjoy an impressive panoramic view of the city’s architectural gems from the adjacent Perlachturm tower.

Just one of many Renaissance fountains surviving intact, the magnificent Augustusbrunnen fountain was erected in honor of the Roman Emperor from whom the city derives its name. Maximilian Street, framed by the historic façades of stately patrician homes, attests to the city’s affluence in the days of the famous Fugger and Welser merchant dynasties. The world’s oldest social settlement for the poor, The Fuggerei, was built by Jakob Fugger the Rich, banker to kings and emperors.  Even today, its residents pay less than a dollar a year in rent. Of interest to music-lovers, the ancestral home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is open to the public and houses a museum for the famous composer, whose family originated in Augsburg.
Augsburg also touts an impressive collection of religious edifices. The Dom (Cathedral) is lit by five of the oldest figured stained glass windows of the world (1140). St. Ulrich & Afra-Basilika and the Protestant Ulrichskirche join with the Dom to constitute a splendid architectural ensemble. And in 1518, Martin Luther first defended his theses of Protestantism to an emissary of the Pope while residing in St. Anna's Church, a former monastery that offers excellent examples of gothic, renaissance, baroque and rococo styles.