Canadian World Traveller Spring 2024 Issue

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remains of the town walls. The Imperial Palace
was making history for almost 250 years, especially
in the Romanesque Great Imperial Hall,
Germany's largest, oldest and at the same time
best-preserved secular building of the 11th century.
Regensburg: journey into the Middle Ages
Goslar
Germany’s Old Towns with
UNESCO World Heritage Status
Its 12th century Stone Bridge is considered a
miracle of medieval engineering: it spans 300
metres across the Danube, and connects the
Stadtamhof district with the Old Town. There,
the towers of St. Peter's Cathedral rise high into
the sky, and a prison complete with a torture
chamber has been preserved in the Reichstag
Museum within the historic Old Town Hall.
There is plenty to see here, with Germany's
largest collection of medieval sites: the Patrician
Towers of wealthy families, Thurn und Taxis
Palace, winding alleyways, delightful courtyards
and the multimedia museum, the "House of
Bavarian History", which opened in 2019 and
covers the period from 1800 to the present. This
student city is always lively – its high density of
pubs is quite legendary! But even without alcohol,
a boat trip to the Kelheim Hall of Liberation
or to the Valhalla can be intoxicating.
Wismar and Stralsund: brick Gothic architecture
on the Baltic Sea
Often, it is "only" individual buildings in
a historic town that UNESCO
declares a World Heritage Site. In the
case of Lübeck, Goslar, Regensburg, Stralsund
and Wismar, on the other hand, the entire Old
Town has been recognised. And rightly so!
Lübeck: gabled houses, Nobel Prize winners and
marzipan
Before the euro, everyone held the image of the
Holsten Gate in their hands instead, as it
adorned the 50-Mark note. Such an honour is
not lightly awarded. In fact, the late-Gothic
building is considered to be one of the most
famous German architectural monuments. With
its thick walls it once protected the Old Town,
surrounded by the river Trave and Elbe-Lübeck
canal. At around 100 hectares, this is one of the
largest German monuments on the UNESCO
World Heritage List. As you walk past the gabled
houses of this Hanseatic city, you'll discover idyllic
courtyards and passageways such as the
Füchtingshof, or Glandorps Gang. Literature
fans can pay a visit to the Günter Grass-Haus,
as well as the Buddenbrookhaus, dedicated to
Thomas Mann. Third on the list of Lübeck's
Nobel Prize winners is former German
Chancellor Willy Brandt, who also richly
deserves his memorial. The Niederegger House
is considered a place of pilgrimage for marzipan
lovers.
Goslar: good things come in threes
The UNESCO World Heritage Site on the northwestern
edge of the Harz Mountains includes
not only the Goslar Old Town and the Upper
Harz Water Management System, but also the
Rammelsberg ore mine – the only one in the
world to have been in continuous operation for
over 1,000 years. You can find information
about this site at its museum, visitor galleries
and events. Nearby Goslar, which has prospered
from its ore, also offers some captivating
events, including the Old Town Festival. Its
1,500 half-timbered houses form a great backdrop
even without any event going on, and the
setting is further enhanced by the Town Hall (the
Hall of Homage is definitely worth seeing) and
These are the Hanseatic cities, located on the
Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – and
their Old Towns were added to the UNESCO
World Heritage List in 2002: Wismar and
Stralsund have a lot in common. And yet at the
same time also have their own individual character.
Wismar's 100 by 100 metre market
square, for example, is one of the largest in
northern Germany. The buildings that make up
its Town Hall are truly outstanding, as are the
"Alter Schwede" community centre and the
"Wismarer Wasserkunst" pavilion. In the really
beautiful "Schabbellhaus" you can learn a lot
about the town's history – and the"European
Route of Brick Gothic". Stralsund is also on this
route. Its harbour island is home to around 500
historic buildings, many of them gabled houses,
and some of them brick churches. Above all, the
104-metre tower of St. Mary's Church shapes
the city's skyline – a city which also appeals to
fish lovers. For one, it is considered the birthplace
of the Bismarck Herring, and it is also
home to the magnificent Ozeaneum.
www.germany.travel
Lübeck Regensburg Stralsund
World Traveler Spring 2024