Going Global: Germany 1 Nuremberg, The Most German

Nuremberg, on the Pegnitz River, is located in Bavaria and is southern Germany’s second largest city. It was founded more than 960 years ago, has been at the forefront of Germany’s culture since its establishment and personifies the entire spectrum of Germany’s history. Most significantly it presents a pattern of how to begin to recognize, come to terms with and learn important lessons from one’s history. www. germany.travel/en

The building, by King Henry III of Bavaria, of Kaiserburg, Nuremberg’s imperial castle, preceded the first official reference to “Nourenberc” in 1050. At that time the city was the eastern frontier of the region and there had been small communities in prehistoric times but the first fully documented settlement surrounded the castle and was chartered in 1219 by Emperor Frederick II as a free imperial city. Although it was not situated on a major water route it was situated at the intersection of several land routes and by the early 1300s it was a free imperial city dependent upon trade and industry. It was considered for more than 450-years the unofficial capital of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation some have deemed the First Reich.

Armor, at that time, was so heavy that if knocked from your horse you were unable to rise without help so many men wore shirts made of wire rings. Each shirt took 18 months to make and was comprised of 40,000 individual rings. The city became famous for making these chain-mail shirts.

The Nuremberg bratwurst, the city’s iconic food, is first mentioned more than 700 years ago. The sausage was such a diet staple that the city council instituted the “Guten Policy,” guidelines for the making and content of the sausage and those guidelines continue to be adhered to. There are numerous restaurants and kiosks where visitors can try one. Traditionally, they are between three to five inches

By Renée S. Gordon History & Travel Writer