By Ines Keane
The name means “red castle above the Tauber”, and there is no castle left to look at. What remains is the town the castle founded, and a wall that is still there to walk.
Where it is
Wikipedia puts Rothenburg ob der Tauber in the Ansbach district of Middle Franconia, in Bavaria. It stands on a plateau at 430 metres above the Tauber river, on 41.67 square kilometres, with 11,365 people at the end of 2024. The same article says the counts of Comburg-Rothenburg built a castle on the hilltop in 1070, that the Hohenstaufen family built another in 1142, and that the town was founded with the castle in 1170, its centre the marketplace and St James’ Church. An earthquake destroyed the castle in 1356, and only a chapel survives.
The wall
Wikipedia says the walls and towers date from the thirteenth century and names three survivors: the White Tower, the Markus Tower and the Röder Arch. Bavaria’s tourist board gives figures for the wall as it stands: 42 towers, six gates and several small pedestrian doors. It describes a path of four kilometres that takes about two and a half hours on foot and starts at the Röderturm. Wikipedia adds that the Rödertor, the gate and tower at the east end, can be climbed.
The tourist board also notes a nickname for the town, “Franconian Jerusalem”, which it ties to the town’s silhouette. We pass the nickname on without comment.
A free imperial city
In 1274, Wikipedia says, King Rudolf of Habsburg gave the town the privileges of a free imperial city, a status it kept until 1803, when it passed to Bavaria. That long stretch of self-government may be one reason the town kept so much of its medieval fabric. It is our reading, and neither article says it.
The church and the town hall
The two sources differ slightly on St James’ Church. Wikipedia says citizens began to use the church in 1336, having been started by the German Order. The tourist board says it was built between 1311 and 1484 and is now Protestant. Both mention an altar by Tilman Riemenschneider, which Wikipedia calls the Holy Blood altarpiece. The board adds a Rieger organ from 1968 and coloured windows in the east choir. The town hall’s Gothic rear dates from about 1250, Wikipedia says, and its Renaissance front was begun in 1572.
The corner everyone photographs
The Plönlein, the tourist board says, is the best-known photographic motif in town: a crooked half-timbered house in front of the entrance to the Spitalviertel. The name means “little square by the fountain”. The ensemble includes the Siebersturm and the Kobolzeller Tor, which the board dates to 1360.
The Christmas side
Two sources cover this. Franconia’s regional tourism site describes the Reiterlesmarkt, named for the Reiterle, “Little Horseback Rider”. It says his origin goes back to prehistoric times and that people once took him for an envoy from another world who visited in winter. The market, it says, spreads over narrow streets, the market square and the area in front of the town hall, with old-fashioned German Christmas biscuits, hot white mulled wine and arts and crafts. The regional site also says the town hall tower gives the best view of the market.
The Bavarian board describes a Christmas museum on the Herrngasse whose permanent exhibition shows objects made between 1870 and 1950, with a Christmas village shop next door. The regional site says the museum is open all year and shows ornaments, Santa Claus figures, gingerbread tins and Advent calendars. The two descriptions of the museum agree in outline and differ in detail.
The Schneeball
Wikipedia’s article on the pastry calls the Schneeball a deep-fried shortcrust ball, 8 to 10 centimetres across, known for at least 400 years in Franconia and Hohenlohe and especially associated with Rothenburg, where it is a signature dish and a common souvenir. The dough is rolled, cut into strips, woven over and under a stick or spoon handle, shaped into a loose ball, held in a round holder and fried until golden, then dusted with icing sugar. It is dry and keeps about eight weeks without refrigeration, Wikipedia says. Once a wedding food, it is now sold all year.
Dates in order
- 1070: the first castle on the hilltop, according to Wikipedia.
- 1142: the Hohenstaufen castle, according to Wikipedia.
- 1170: the town founded with the castle, according to Wikipedia.
- Thirteenth century: walls and towers, according to Wikipedia.
- 1274: free imperial city, according to Wikipedia.
- 1311 to 1484: St James’ Church built, according to the Bavarian board; Wikipedia says 1336 for first use.
- 1360: the Kobolzeller Tor, according to the Bavarian board.
- 1572: the town hall’s Renaissance front begun, according to Wikipedia.
- 1803: the town passes to Bavaria, according to Wikipedia.
What kind of sources these are
An open encyclopaedia, two tourism boards (one for Bavaria, one for Franconia) and a second encyclopaedia article on the pastry. Tourism boards want visitors, and their wording shows it. We read no town archive, museum or heritage listing.
What we left out
We left out opening hours, tickets and travel details. We left out the town’s darker episodes, which the sources cover, because this page is about what you can see and handle. We left out the legend of the great drink, which Wikipedia itself calls almost certainly apocryphal. We named no shop, baker or workshop, since none of our sources is about one.
Roam first. Shop later.