Augsburg, Germany Sightseeing

Highlights

Fugger
houses The houses of Augsburg’s most famous family stand along Maximilianstrasse and go back to the years between 1512 and 1515. Heavily damaged in the Second World War, all damage caused by the descendants of the Fuggers was repaired.

Fuggerei
The Fuggerei is a conglomerate of three gates and eight alleys and represents a kind of city within Augsburg. Jakob Fugger had it built between 1516 and 1523. The best-known resident so far was Franz Mozart, the great-grandfather of the great Austrian composer.

Old town
Even if people from Augsburg generally only understand the old town as the Lechviertel, it has to be made much larger and include all streets and buildings within the old city walls.

Augsburg Cathedral
The cathedral is the cathedral of the diocese of Augsburg and one of the most popular sights in Augsburg. It dates back to the 8th century and has two towers, each 62 meters high. The imposing Romanesque-Gothic building stands out as a sacred beauty in the middle of the old city center of Augsburg, a city of Germany listed on topb2bwebsites.

Augsburg Town Hall
The renaissance town hall of Augsburg, one of the most impressive town halls in Germany, is one of the city’s landmarks. It was built between 1615 and 1624 and was considered the only building in the world with more than six floors when it was completed.

Special neighborhoods, squares and streets

Old town
Even if people from Augsburg generally only understand the old town as the Lechviertel, it has to be made much larger and include all streets and buildings within the old city walls. But you can divide it into two areas: While the “upper” old town primarily refers to the shopping areas in the city center, the term “lower” old town really refers to the winding streets of the Lechviertel. The most important and well-known buildings of the Fuggerstadt are in the old town. Fortunately, the old town, which was unfortunately so badly damaged in the Second World War, has been lovingly restored without seriously disrupting its historicity.

Fuggerei
The Fuggerei is a conglomerate of three gates and eight alleys and represents a kind of city within Augsburg. Jakob Fugger had it built between 1516 and 1523. The most famous resident so far was Franz Mozart, the great-grandfather of the great Austrian composer. The settlement was and is the oldest social settlement in the world. It can be visited for an entrance fee of € 4. There are still people living in the settlement, but
they must meet the following conditions: – they must be native Augsburgers
– they must have got into poverty through no fault of their own
– they must be Catholic
– they pay the same price as at the time, namely 1 gulden, which is currently 0.88 euros are.

Lechviertel
The former center of the craftsmen became a residential area for poor citizens after Augsburg was incorporated into Bavaria, but is now one of the most popular residential addresses in the city. This is due to the extensive renovations that were tackled at the beginning of the 1980s. The historic cobblestones returned and many restaurants and shops now livened up the streetscape. A constant companion in the quarter are the Lech canals, which once served to supply energy and water as well as to dispose of waste and today ensure that Augsburg can now be proud of having more bridges than Venice.

Maximilianstraße
The most important street in southern Germany in terms of art history is now a popular promenade and shopping mile for young and old. It is surrounded by stone evidence of Augsburg’s long history and shines just as much in Gothic light as it does in that of the Renaissance, Rococo and Neoclassic periods. The cultural significance of “Maxstraße” cannot be overestimated.

City Hall Square
The square in front of the Augsburg City Hall is surrounded by Maximilian Street and Philippine Welser Street and measures 80 meters in length and width. There are buildings of captivating beauty that are arranged around it: above all Augsburg City Hall, Perlach Tower and Augustus Fountain. In addition to its historical significance, the square is also the starting point for many tourist tours and a meeting point for city residents.

State and City Library
This institution, one of the most important city and regional libraries in Germany, is housed in a colossal building designed in the neo-baroque style by the architects Fritz Steinhäußer and Martin Dülfer.

Stadtmetzg
This building, built between 1606 and 1609 in the Lechviertel, was kept in the style of the late Renaissance. Originally the building was home to the city’s central slaughterhouse. It has not performed this function for a long time. Even today, the future of the imposing building is still unclear.

Stoinerne Ma
To the “Stoinerne Ma”, ie the “stone man” who it says than-life stone figure on the eastern city wall and is a one-armed baker with bread loaf and shield, is a beautiful legend climbs: So did the baker Konrad Hackher during a long siege in the Thirty Years War, breads were baked from sawdust and thrown over the city wall. The besiegers got the impression that the city still had so much to eat that it could even be thrown away, and out of anger, shot off the baker’s arm with a crossbow. In return they gave up the siege, and Augsburg was saved.

Bird
Gate This gate belonged – like the others – to the former city wall. It was designed as a four-story tower in 1445. Allegedly there was a funny incident when the city council wanted to approve the construction of the gate. A representative from the city questioned the current leadership of the tower. The builder then climbed onto the tower and got rid of his necessities from the upper window. When his “business” touched the floor without even touching the wall beforehand, the exact construction method was proven.

Wertachbrucker Tor
The Wertachbrucker Tor, which stands on the edge of Augsburg’s old town, dates from around 1370 and today functions as a guild tower for the carpenters and also as an event location.

Armory
Like so many other buildings in Augsburg, the armory was also built by Elias Holl. He designed it between 1602 and 1607. The armory, which was completely restored in 1978, is now used as a meeting and exhibition space as well as a restaurant.