Of Pinocchio and holy relics

Tall and strapping, Hans Baumgarten, with a long, straggly beard, dressed in a black cape and broad-brimmed hat with a lantern in his hand, guides the visitors through the dimly lit lanes of Old Town. As medieval buildings cast forbidding shadows, the night watchman recounts tales of intrigue from the Middle Ages.

“If a baker was caught cheating with ingredients, he would be placed in a cage and plunged into icy water,” he says in a gruff tone. One of the best ways to experience the magic of Rothenburg and to connect with its past, is to take a night watchman’s tour which takes you around Old Town. Walking through the turrets and towers, one travels through time with the stories about sieges, hangings at the gallows and the Black Plague.

Rothenburgob der Tauber, in Franconia, Germany with its half-timbered gingerbread houses with sloping red-tiled roofs, and vines and creepers winding their way up, cobblestoned lanes and well-preserved city walls and towers, overlooks the Tauber Valley, with its rolling hills and vineyards. Founded in the 12th century, it grew in importance because of its strategic position on the intersection of important trade routes.

It was once the second-largest city in Germany, and this prosperity translated into a wealth of beautiful buildings. The alleyways, staircases and buildings in Rothenburg were so influential that British town planners and architects took cues from the architecture in designing Hampstead in London. But in the 17th century after a siege in the Thirty Years War, it lost its importance.

Walking through the narrow alleys and cobblestoned lanes of the town, one comes across patrician homes of traders and stately half-timbered buildings that once held corn and grain to protect the town in case of a siege. Most of these have been converted into charming hotels and restaurants. The turrets, spires and red roofs make you feel like you are walking through the pages of a Grimm’s fairy tale, and it’s not a surprise when you hear that Geppetto’s village in the movie version of Pinocchio, was actually a cartoon re-creation of the town. Don’t miss Plonlein—the signature view of the town found on postcards—where two roads diverge underneath a narrow timber-framed building, which appeared as the mustard house of Geppetto, in Pinocchio.

History whispers from every corner. Rothenburg was a free imperial city under the Holy Roman Empire, from the late Middle Ages until 1803. During the Thirty Years War in the 1600s, Europe was divided into Protestant and Catholic factions and Rothenburg which was Protestant, was protected by Sweden. When the Catholic army under Count of Tilly besieged the town, it had to surrender. According to legend, the mayor accepted Tilly’s challenge to down the offered three litres of wine in one gulp, and save the town from destruction in what became known as Der Mesitertrunk or The Master Gulp. This scene is enacted every year by the townfolk as a play.

A popular attraction today is the lovingly preserved medieval walls, marked with 42 towers and six gates that encircle the city like a tight hug. You can walk the Tower trail across the entire perimeter of the city walls which stretches across 4.5 km and was once patrolled by guards. After the Second World War, almost 40 per cent of the town lay in ruin. It closely escaped complete destruction thanks to an American General, John Mc Cloy, who negotiated to save its cityscape. The City Administration devised a plan to rebuild the town. Donations came in from across the world, and today as you walk the walls, you can see plaques commemorating the generous contributors.

But the showstopper of the town is, without doubt, the St James Church (St Jakob in German), which houses the famous Altar of the Holy Blood, named for the sample of Christ’s blood it holds. The relic, encased in rock crystal, is set in a cross held aloft by two carved angels, created by the Würzburg sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider between 1501 and 1505. The church, a triumph of Gothic architecture, was once a major stop on the pilgrim’s route to Santiago de Compostela.

The Castle Garden with lush well-kept lawns and flower beds dotted with statues and memorials is the site where the royal family of Hohenstaufen established its imperial castle in 1142. This open-air gallery, is the best place for a wonderful view of the southern part of the town and the Tauber Valley to the left, as well as the Double Bridge and the Kobolzeller Church.

Take a little detour from the tried and tested German itinerary and go back in time in this medieval warehouse.