Dinkelsbühl

Dinkelsbühl kept its complete wall circuit with sixteen towers and four gates, and the houses inside are largely late medieval and early modern because the town escaped destruction in successive wars and had no industrial boom to prompt rebuilding. Tradition holds that in 1632 a child led the town's children out to plead with a besieging commander, who spared the place; the story is commemorated each July in the Kinderzeche festival, with a historical pageant and a boys' band. St George's church is a hall church with three aisles of equal height under a net vault. The town has no railway, which has kept it quiet.

History

Fortified by Emperor Henry V, Dinkelsbühl received the same town rights as Ulm in 1305 and became a Free Imperial City in 1351, a status it kept until 1802, when it passed to the Kingdom of Bavaria. Around 1534 most of its people became Protestant, and its town law, the Dinkelsbühler Recht, published in 1536 and revised in 1738, gathered a very extensive body of public and private law; in 1962 the film The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm was shot on location here (Wikipedia, Dinkelsbühl).

What you'll find

• The full wall circuit - sixteen towers and four gates, walkable outside.
• St George's - a hall church with three aisles of equal height.
• The Kinderzeche - a July festival built on the town's siege story.
• The unaltered houses - late medieval facades along the main streets.

When to go

April to October; the Kinderzeche runs for about ten days in July and fills the town. Otherwise it is far quieter than Rothenburg on the same route.

Things to know

There is no train, so access needs a car or the seasonal coach. The town is small, walked in a couple of hours. Festival week books out entirely.

Nearby

Rothenburg lies north; Nördlingen is south.

Key facts