Nördlingen is surrounded by Germany’s only completely preserved town wall on which you can walk right round. If you climb up the clock tower of St. George’s church, fondly called in local speech the ‘Daniel’, you will have a wonderful all-round view of the crater, formed some 15 million years ago by the impact of a meteorite. Still unique today is the tower keeper on the ‘Daniel’, whose call reverberates across the roofs of Nördlingen all year round in the evening hours, ‘So G`sell so‘.
Nördlingen
A jewel in the Ries region
History
- 1st – 3rd century AD Roman castle and civilian settlement on the site of today’s town
- 898 ‘Nordilinga’ mentioned as the court of a Carolingian king
- 1215 Emperor Frederick II purchases the town from Regensburg: Nördlingen becomes a Free Imperial Town
- 1219 First mention of the 10-day Whitsun Fair, which was the most important supraregional trade fair in Southern Germany during the Middle Ages
- 14th / 16th / 17th century Construction, extension and reinforcement of the town fortifications
- 1427-1505 Construction of St. George’s Hall Church with its 90 m bell tower known as ‘Daniel’
- 1522/1555 Involvement in the Reformation
- 1634 Battle of Nördlingen, at the Albuch; town conquered; population decimated
- 1802/1803 Loss of independence and integration into Bavaria; economic decline
- 1972-2000 Incorporation of 10 neighbouring villages; current population – approx. 20,000
Highlights
Church of St. Salvator
Nördlingen Hospital with church
Old Schranne
Market place Nördlingen
Church of St. George
Original town wall of Nördlingen
The Town Wall Museum
Bavarian Railway Museum
Open-air theatre “Alte Bastei” Nördlingen
Romantic Christmas Market Nördlingen
UNESCO World Heritage Site
15 million years ago, there was a huge “bang” in the Nördlinger Ries: a rock from outer space hit with great force and created a gigantic crater – today’s Nördlinger Ries.This region has since been designated the first National Geopark in Bavaria. The new Geopark also includes surrounding areas of the Franconian and Swabian Alb.The center of the Geopark is the town of Nördlingen.It is located right in the impact crater. The Ries Crater Museum in Nördlingen provides information about the interesting geological past of the Ries. Here, the geological history becomes an experience for the visitor and geoscience becomes comprehensible.
Eating and drinking
When it comes to eating and drinking, the Ries region features traditional dishes and fresh, regional products. A typical gourmet dish is ‘Rieser Küchle’, dough cooked in deep fat, coated with powdered sugar.