Dinkelsbuehl

taken from the Bavarian News on June 22, 2011 and written by Gini Sinclair

The Romantic Road runs from Wuerzburg in the north to Fuessen in the south of Germany. Along the way are three walled towns of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbuehl and Nordlingen.

Dinkelsbuehl has retained most of the town walls and 16 towers built over the centuries as fortifications for a town at the crossroads of two major trading routes, the north-south Germany-Italy route and the route from the Rhine towns to Eastern Europe.

Today, the town stands at the crossroads of the Romantic Road and the German Holiday Route (a 2,000 kilometer route from the Elbe to the Danube).

A town of nearly 12,000 inhabitants, Dinkelsbuehl offers medieval pageantry, modern amenities, and rural activities. The nearly 300 lakes, ponds, and rivers that surround the town make it a popular place for relaxing in the country.

Each year the town celebrates the saving of the town in the 1600s, during the Thirty Years War, with a children’s parade. The Kinderzeche commemorates a time when the city was besieged and a kindergarten teacher gathered the children of the town to go and beg for the mercy.

The colonel leading the Swedish forces agreed and the city was saved. The festival is 10 days long with the third Monday in July being the main day of the celebration.

During the 10 days of the festival, visitors will find Swedish mercenaries, beer fests, theater presentations, and a parade that not only includes the children of Dinkelsbuehl, but adults as well.

The town center features houses and buildings from as early as the 14th century. The main feature of town is the Minister St. George, with a tower remaining from the 12th century. The rest of the church was built in the 14th century with changes up until the 1800s.

Across the street from the church is the Deutsches Haus built in the 16th century and serving today as a restaurant and hotel. This building, with a decorative half-timbered facade, is regarded as one of the most beautiful in southern Germany.

The Dinkelsbuehl Museum of local history and culture is located in the old town hall, which was built in 1361 and was originally known as the Stone House.

The museum has a famous cannon that was cast in Nuremberg, along with several copper kitchen utensils, engravings, paintings, and local craft exhibits such as textile making and dyeing.

A farm house room holds furniture and popular art, a ceramics room exhibits medieval vessels, tableware, and china. A historical collection features weapons, armor and instruments of torture.

A Third Dimensional Museum is housed in the Municipal Mill, which dates back to the 14th century and was built like a castle with a moat. In the 3-D Museum, visitors can see holographic images and other digital imagery.