Until World War II Rothenburg was one of the few towns of Europe whose medieval or Renaissance walls had remained intact over the years. It was scheduled, like Heidelberg, to be spared from destruction by the Allies, since American Gen. Lucius Clay had spent a pleasant summer there in the Thirties, but a single errant pilot in a small fighter-bomber mistook Rothenburg for another town and dropped two bombs, which destroyed forty-percent of the buildings. The damage has since been repaired, so nothing can be seen today of the recent destruction. Rothenburg is noted for being the workplace of the sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider.

Another view of Rothenburg. I'm surprised to see cars on the streets in this recent photo, since when I was there a few decades ago, no cars were allowed within the town's encircling walls. Outside the walls (besides a big parking lot!) there was nothing but verdant meadow, so that the wanderer approaching the town would gradually see this beautiful man-made creation rising into view out of nature's green background. So must also the itinerant merchant have seen the place in 1300.

The beautiful Rococo Wieskirche,a pilgrimage church in southern Bavaria, is one of the few large-scale buildings in Germany whose design, erection, and decoration (ca. 1750) remained under the direction of the original architect/artist until completion, in this case Dominikus Zimmermann, which thus ensured the true realization of a single inspiring conception. Construction took nine years. See a whole page on the Wieskirch plus a gallery page.

The Wieskirche altar. The interior of the church was decorated by the architect, Dominikus Zimmermann, together with his brother Johann Baptist Zimmermann. Plaster, wood, gilt, and paint are the material of German rococo. The dramatic effect of this dazzling altar on the beholder when he enters the church from the far end, is overwhelming. Stift Wilhering (picture, 150 K) in Upper Austria comes from the same style period.

Wieskirche, another view.

Neuschwanstein, a medieval-style castle in a breathtaking setting, beautiful... but phony. King Ludwig II of Bavaria built it 150 years ago; thus the castle is only a recreation of what the Romantics of the Nineteenth Century imagined of the world in the Twelfth Century.