THE ROMANTIC ROAD IN REVERSE (XIII of ‘A Tale of 2 Continents’ By R.J.Fensterman)
XIII
THE ROMANTIC ROAD IN REVERSE
Germany’s “Romantic Road” starts in Wurzburg, about 60 miles south of Frankfurt, and terminates in Füssen (or Fuessen – if you can’t find an umlaut on your key-board), just a few miles north of the Austrian border. While the beautiful and historic towns, churches and castles along this old trade route have always been there, the term itself was coined in 1950, to rejuvenate the tourist industry in now-peaceful but still war-ravaged Germany. Going along this road, it is easy to imagine it is, say, 1909; and you are once again young and carefree, with a feather-light backpack, pedaling effortlessly on a bicycle, humming music from the Student Prince.
In reality, it was 2010, and we were traveling with a large group of older folks, in the opposite direction (south to north) in a huge black Prevost bus, with Europlates and an Italian sticker. We left the Angerbrau in Murnau around 8:00 AM, re-traced our route through Ohistadt and Oberammergau to pick-up those in other hotels, and then headed nouth, toward the city of Augaburg, our next destination on Germany’s “Romantic Road”…
Augsburg lies about 55 miles from Oberammergau; it is Bavaria’s third largest city (265,000). It is also the third oldest city in Germany, founded in Roman times (The Augs in the city’s name refers to the Emperor Augustus, who reigned before the birth of Christ.) It has always been an important commercial and religious city. Back in my tour-of-duty with the Third Armored, it was also a large U S military base.
The bus let us off near the famous church of St Anne, where Martin Luther met with Cardinal Catejan in 1518, and was asked to submit to Papal Authority. (He did notc) The church dates from the early 14th Century, and was part of a Carmelite Monastery complex…
We gathered in the courtyard of the old Monastery (long since converted to a college, and then to private residences, and a museum) to wait for the church proper to be opened for our tour. As you can see from the clothing, it was quite chilly this morning. (The couple on the far left in the photo are our friends from Fredricksburg, Texas)….
The interior is one of the earliest and finest examples of Renaissance art and architecture in all of Germany. The wealthy merchant family of Ulrich Fugger commissioned additions to the church in 1508, after the Guild of Goldsmiths had added a chapel in 1428. The church spire was added in 1607 by Elias Holl. Originally a Catholic church, the entire parish became Lutheran in 1525 (as did most of the other churches in Augsburg). It would remain so under the unique Peace of Augsburg (1555) Edict, which allowed for complete religious tolerance in the city, where Catholics and Protestants worked together to govern Augsburg. In 1618, Emperor Ferdinand II restored Catholicism in the city and thus began the bloody Thirty Years War; Swedish troops restored St Anne’s to Lutheranism in 1632, but Imperial troops overthrew the Swedes in 1634 after a terrible siege that wiped-out 55,000 people. St. Anne’s would revert back to a Catholic church, and the Protestants would worship outside in the courtyard; in 1648, the church was returned to the Lutherans, and it has remained a Lutheran Church to this day.
Here is the altar of the beautiful Fugger Family Chapel, the altar piece is hand-carved wood, with paintings by local artists of the period. On the back wall, you can see the portrait of Martin Luther done by Lucas Cranach in the early 16th Century…
Leaving the church, we headed downtown on the Strassenbahn; like most German cities of any size, public transportation was provided by these ubiquitous street cars that took one most anywhere in the city, quickly, reliably and cheaply. The cars were quite crowded at this time, approaching noon. Most of us had to stand. Memories of Frankfurt in the early 60s came tomy mind. Only the one now in Augsburg was larger, quieter and faster.
We disembarked from the Strassenbahn on Fuggerstasse, behind the Moritzplatz. As you can see in the following picture, there is only one building visible that pre-dates 1945, and that is the back façade and spire of St. Moritz Church. Heavy bombing in World War II destroyed much of this particular area. The church was spared; this church building was competed in 1595, replacing the original wooden church founded in 800. It is still a Catholic parish. We did not have time to go inside, but it is quite impressive outside…
It was time, once again, for our RMD – this time just a slight shower that had us board the street-car, and head to Unter Graben Strasse. That was the commercial center of the city. We were quite hungry by now, and were looking for a place to eat. We spotted the familiar Golden Arch on the ground floor of an office building, and got off at the next stop. A quick inexpensive routine meal. Nearby was St Barbara’s Clinic, which was undergoing some roof repairs…
Inside “Micky D’s” (as it is known in the vernacular), we sat next to three young women who were perusing a glossy catalog. I couldn’t help noting that it was a Mary Kay catalog. What I couldn’t make-out, however, was the language they were speaking. Certainly not German. Perhaps some Eastern European parlance? Finally, I gave in to my curiosity. “Excuse me.” I said “What language are you speaking?”. “Turkish,” one of them replied, with a slight smile. All Icould manage to replay was” “Ahh.” American culture is contagous.
Not far from us was Rathaus Platz. We were to meet the rest of the group, and our local guide there at 1 PM. In front of us loomed the impressive City Hall of Augsburg. This great iconic building was designed and built by Elias Holl in 1624 (replacing the original Gothic building from the 14th Century)…
In 1530, at the original city hall (then also called the Bishophof ) on this same site, Reformer Phillip Melanchthon presented to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V the famous Augsburg Confession; this document, approved by Martin Luther, laid-out in 28 articles what Lutherans believed. (It is still used today as the essential document of the Lutheran Faith.) Unfortunately, it was rejected by Charles V, a Catholic ruler, as unacceptable and in error.
The current building stands as a beautiful example of Renaissance architecture; it is clearly the masterpiece of Master Builder Elias Holl. It took 15 years of planning, and 9 years of construction to complete. During World War II it was severely damaged and burned by British air raids. It was partially re-constructed after the war, but its restoration, both exterior and interior, was not fully complete until 1985, as part of the 2000 year anniversary of the city’s founding.
Clearly, the most exquisite sight in the building is the third floor’s Goldener Saal. Here are the gilded coffered ceiling and murals of this huge beautiful Baroque hall….
The hall covers almost 6000 square feet, and the ceiling is 46 feet high; the decorations were originally done by artist Johann Matthias Kager and took 18 years to complete. Those we see now were re-done (from historical drawings) from 1980 through 1985, with some additional gold and jewelry work done in 1996. The paintings in the ceiling and on the wall are a virtual history of civic development from Roman times till the Renaissance.
We would’ve liked to have spent many hours in this splendid place, but, as usual on a packaged tour, the schedule did not permit this. We had to leave and board our tour bus.
Now, we continued north toward the famous city of Nuremberg. The landscape of northern Bavaria, between Augsbug and Nuremberg was quite lovely under the late afternoon sun…
It was supper-time when we reached Nuremberg. There we were joined by several other travelers, who had signed-up for the northern-most part of the tour. There was a group of retired Salvation Army officers, and a Pittsburgh policeman on vacation by himself (his wife was back home caring for a sick child). His name was Jim, and we had supper together in the dining room of the new Woehrdersee Hotel in the southern suburbs of Nuremberg. Itwas getting dark as we started-out on foot to walk to the city center on Bahnhofstrasse; we were joined in the lobby by a Chinese-American girl from Seattle who was also staying at the hotel, and wanted to see the old town too…
(Chapter XIV to follow shortly…)
