Schnoor Quarter

The Schnoor is a knot of lanes between the market square and the Weser, with houses mostly from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries and some earlier, many only a few metres wide. It was a fishermen's and craftsmen's quarter, and the name is thought to come from the ropes and cords made in the trades that worked there, with lanes named after individual crafts. By the nineteenth century it was the poorest part of the city, which is why it was never redeveloped, and it escaped the worst of the wartime bombing. Restored from the 1950s, it now holds small shops, galleries and cafes in the tiny houses.

History

While Bremen's rich merchants lived on the Obernstrasse and the Langenstrasse, the Schnoor grew from the 10th century as a fishermen's district of thatched cottages on the island between the Weser and the Balge, often flooded; the town's first ferry ran from here, the first bridge over the Weser was built around 1240, and part of a wall and round tower of around 1200 survive near the Marterburg. Franciscans settled in the 13th century and built St John's church, and while the oldest houses date from the 15th century, most are from the 17th and 18th, on plots big enough for a house of around 55 square metres. In 1959 the Bremen Senate decided to restore the quarter with state support, and in 1973 it became a protected historic district (Wikipedia, Schnoor).

Highlights

• The narrow lanes - passages a few metres wide between old houses.
• The small houses - fifteenth to eighteenth-century buildings, some tiny.
• The craft street names - lanes named after the trades once worked there.
• The shops and galleries - small businesses filling the restored houses.

When to go

April to October; the quarter is busiest at midday and on weekends. Shops close on Sundays for the most part. It is small and walked in an hour.

Practical notes

It is very small and heavily geared to visitors with souvenir shops. Lanes are crowded in season. There is little to see beyond the streets themselves.

Nearby

The market square lies north; the Weser runs south.

Key facts