Nuremberg
Encyclopedia
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German
state of Bavaria
, in the administrative region
of Middle Franconia
. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about 170 kilometres (105.6 mi) north of Munich
and is Franconia
's largest city. The population (as of December 2010) is 505,664. The "European Metropolitan Area Nuremberg" has 3.5 million inhabitants.
. From 1050 to 1571, the city expanded and rose dramatically in importance due to its location on key trade routes. King Conrad III
established a burgraviate, with the first burgraves coming from the Austrian House of Raab
but, with the extinction of their male line around 1190, the burgraviate was inherited by the last count's son-in-law, of the House of Hohenzollern
. From the late 12th century to the Interregnum (1254–73), however, the power of the burgraves diminished as the Staufen
emperors transferred most non-military powers to a castellan, with the city administration and the municipal courts handed over to an Imperial mayor from 1173/74. The strained relations between the burgraves and the castellan, with gradual transferral of powers to the latter in the late-14th and early-15th centuries, finally broke out into open enmity, which greatly influenced the history of the city.
Nuremberg is often referred to as having been the 'unofficial capital
' of the Holy Roman Empire
, particularly because Reichstage
(Imperial Diets) and courts met at Nuremberg Castle
. The Diets of Nuremberg
were an important part of the administrative structure of the empire. The increasing demand of the royal court and the increasing importance of the city attracted increased trade and commerce to Nuremberg. In 1219, Frederick II
granted the (Great Letter of Freedom), including town rights
, Reichsfreiheit (or Imperial immediacy), the privilege to mint coins and an independent customs
policy, almost wholly removing the city from the purview of the burgraves. Nuremberg soon became, with Augsburg
, one of the two great trade centers on the route from Italy
to Northern Europe. In 1298, the Jews
of the town were accused of having desecrated
the host
and 698 were slain in one of the many Rintfleisch Massacres
. Behind the massacre in 1298 was also the desire to combine the northern and southern parts of the city, which were divided by the Pegnitz river. The Jews of the German lands suffered many massacres during the plague
years. In 1349 Nuremberg's Jews were subjected to a pogrom. The plague was also present in 1405, 1435, 1437, 1482, 1494, 1520 and 1534.
The largest gains for Nuremberg were in the 14th century; including Charles IV
's Golden Bull of 1356
, naming Nuremberg as the city where newly-elected kings of Germany must hold their first Reichstag, making Nuremberg one of the three most important cities of the Empire. Charles was the patron of the Nuremberg Frauenkirche
, built between 1352 and 1362 (the architect was likely Peter Parler
), where the Imperial court worshipped during its stays in Nuremberg. The royal and Imperial connection was strengthened when Sigismund of Luxembourg
granted the Imperial regalia to be kept permanently in Nuremberg in 1423, where they remained until 1796, when the advancing French troops required their removal to Regensburg
and thence to Vienna
.
In 1349 the members of the guild
s unsuccessfully rebelled against the patricians in the Handwerkeraufstand (Craftsmen's Uprising), supported by merchants and some councillors, leading to a ban on any self-organisation of the artisans in the city, abolishing the guilds that were customary elsewhere in Europe; the unions were then dissolved, and the oligarchs remained in power while Nuremberg was a free city. Charles IV conferred upon the city the right to conclude alliances independently, thereby placing it upon a politically equal footing with the princes of the empire. Frequent fights took place with the burgraves without, however, inflicting lasting damage upon the city. After the castle had been destroyed by fire in 1420 during a feud between Frederick IV
(since 1417 margrave of Brandenburg) and the duke of Bavaria-Ingolstadt
, the ruins and the forest belonging to the castle were purchased by the city (1427), resulting in the city's total sovereignty within its borders. Through these and other acquisitions the city accumulated considerable territory. The Hussite Wars
, recurrence of the Black Death in 1437, and the First Margrave War
led to a severe fall in population in the mid-15th century. At the beginning of the 16th century, siding with Albert IV
, Duke of Bavaria-Munich
, in the Landshut War of Succession
led the city to gain substantial territory, resulting in lands of 25 sq mi (64.7 km²), becoming one of the largest Imperial cities.
. In 1525, Nuremberg accepted the Protestant Reformation
, and in 1532, the religious Peace of Nuremberg, by which the Lutheran
s gained important concessions, was signed there. During the 1552 revolution against Charles V
, Nuremberg tried to purchase its neutrality, but the city was attacked without a declaration of war and was forced into a disadvantageous peace. At the Peace of Augsburg
, the possessions of the Protestants were confirmed by the Emperor, their religious privileges extended and their independence from the Bishop of Bamberg affirmed, while the 1520s' secularisation of the monasteries was also approved.
The state of affairs in the early 16th century, increased trade routes elsewhere and the ossification of the social hierarchy and legal structures contributed to the decline in trade. Frequent quartering of Imperial, Swedish and League
soldiers, the financial costs of the war and the cessation of trade caused irreparable damage to the city and a near-halving of the population. In 1632, the city, occupied by the forces of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
, was besieged
by the army of Imperial general Albrecht von Wallenstein
. The city declined after the war and recovered its importance only in the 19th century, when it grew as an industrial centre. Even after the Thirty Years' War, however, there was a late flowering of architecture and culture — secular Baroque architecture
is exemplified in the layout of the civic gardens built outside the city walls, and in the Protestant city's rebuilding of the Egidienkirche, destroyed by fire at the beginning of the 18th century, considered a significant contribution to the baroque church architecture of Middle Franconia.
After the Thirty Years' War, Nuremberg attempted to remain detached from external affairs, but contributions were demanded for the War of the Austrian Succession
and the Seven Years' War
and restrictions of imports and exports deprived the city of many markets for its manufactures. The Bavarian elector, Charles Theodore
, appropriated part of the land obtained by the city during the Landshut War of Succession
, to which Bavaria had maintained its claim; Prussia also claimed part of the territory. Realising its weakness, the city asked to be incorporated into Prussia but Frederick William II
refused, fearing to offend Austria, Russia
and France
. At the Imperial diet in 1803, the independence of Nuremberg was affirmed, but on the signing of the Confederation of the Rhine
on 12 July 1806, it was agreed to hand the city over to Bavaria from 8 September, with Bavaria guaranteeing the amortisation of the city's 12.5 million guilder public debt.
In 1817, the city was incorporated into the district of Rezatkreis (named for the Franconian Rezat
river), which was renamed to Middle Franconia
on 1 January 1838. The first German railway, the Bavarian Ludwigsbahn
, from Nuremberg to nearby Fürth
, was opened in 1835. The establishment of railways and the incorporation of Bavaria into Zollverein
(the 19th century German Customs Union), commerce and industry opened the way to greater prosperity. In 1852, there were 53,638 inhabitants: 46,441 Protestants and 6616 Catholics. It subsequently grew to become the most important industrial city of Bavaria and one of the most prosperous towns of southern Germany. In 1905, its population, including several incorporated suburbs, was 291,351: 86,943 Catholics, 196,913 Protestants, 3738 Jews and 3766 members of other creeds.
Nuremberg held great significance during the Nazi Germany
era. Because of the city's relevance to the Holy Roman Empire
and its position in the centre of Germany, the Nazi Party chose the city to be the site of huge Nazi Party conventions — the Nuremberg rallies
. The rallies were held annually from 1927 to 1938 in Nuremberg. After Adolf Hitler's rise to power
in 1933 the Nuremberg rallies became huge Nazi propaganda
events, a centre of Nazi ideals. The 1934 rally was filmed by Leni Riefenstahl
, and made into a propaganda film called Triumph des Willens
(Triumph of the Will). At the 1935 rally, Hitler specifically ordered the Reichstag
to convene at Nuremberg to pass the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws
which revoked German citizenship
for all Jews. A number of premises were constructed solely for these assemblies, some of which were not finished. Today many examples of Nazi architecture
can still be seen in the city. The city was also the home of the Nazi propagandist
Julius Streicher
, the publisher of Der Stürmer
.
During World War II
, Nuremberg was the headquarters of Wehrkreis (military district) XIII, and an important site for military production, including aircraft, submarines, and tank engines. A subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp
was located here. Extensive use was made of slave labour
. The city was severely damaged in Allied strategic bombing
from 1943–45. On January 2, 1945, the medieval
city centre was systematically bombed by the Royal Air Force
and the U.S. Army Air Forces
and about ninety percent of it was destroyed in only one hour, with 1,800 residents killed and roughly 100,000 displaced. In February 1945, additional attacks followed. In total, about 6,000 Nuremberg residents are estimated to have been killed in air raids.
Nuremberg was a heavily fortified city that was captured in a fierce battle lasting from 17 April to 21 April 1945 by the 3rd Infantry Division, 42nd Infantry Division, and 45th Infantry Division, which fought house-to-house and block-by-block against determined German resistance, causing further urban devastation to the already bombed and shelled buildings. Despite this intense degree of destruction, the city was rebuilt after the war and was to some extent, restored to its pre-war appearance including the reconstruction of some of its medieval buildings. However, the biggest part of the historic structural condition of the old Imperial Free City was lost forever.
Between 1945 and 1946, German officials involved in the Holocaust
and other war crimes were brought before an international tribunal in the Nuremberg Trials. The Soviet Union had wanted these trials to take place in Berlin. However, Nuremberg was chosen as the site for the trials for specific reasons:
The same courtroom in Nuremberg was the venue of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals
, organised by the United States as occupying power in the area.
, Kornburg in the south. Langwasser
is a modern suburb
.
Today Nuremberg is a multicultural city. 37% of the residents have an immigrant background.
) products, sausages, and handmade toys. Pocket watch
es — Nuremberg eggs
— were made here in the sixteenth century by Peter Henlein
. In the nineteenth century Nuremberg became the "industrial heart" of Bavaria
with companies such as Siemens
and MAN establishing a strong base in the city. Nuremberg is still an important industrial centre with a strong standing in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Items manufactured in the area include electrical equipment, mechanical and optical products, motor vehicles, writing and drawing paraphernalia, stationery products, and printed materials. The city is also strong in the fields of automation, energy, and medical technology. Siemens is still the largest industrial employer in the Nuremberg region but a good third of German market research agencies is also located in the city. The Nuremberg International Toy Fair
is the largest of its kind in the world. The city also hosts several specialist hi-tech fairs every year, attracting experts from every corner of the globe.
Bandai
Germany has its head office in Nuremberg.
. In 1471 Johannes Mueller of Königsberg
(Bavaria), later called Regiomontanus
, built an astronomical observatory in Nuremberg and published many important astronomical charts. In 1515, Albrecht Dürer
, a native of Nuremberg, mapped the stars of the northern and southern hemispheres, producing the first printed star charts, which had been ordered by Johannes Stabius
. Around 1515 Dürer also published the "Stabiussche Weltkarte", the first perspective drawing of the terrestrial globe. Perhaps most famously, the main part of Nicolaus Copernicus
's work was published in Nuremberg in 1543.
Printers and publishers have a long history in Nuremberg. Many of these publishers worked with well-known artists of the day to produce books that could also be considered works of art. In 1470 Anton Koberger
opened Europe's first print shop in Nuremberg. In 1493, he published the Nuremberg Chronicles, also known as the World Chronicles (Schedelsche Weltchronik), an illustrated history of the world from the creation to the present day. It was written in the local Franconian dialect by Hartmann Schedel
and had illustrations by Michael Wohlgemuth
, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff
, and Albrecht Dürer
. Others furthered geographical knowledge and travel by map making. Notable among these was navigator and geographer Martin Behaim
, who made the first world globe.
Sculptors such as Veit Stoss
, Adam Kraft
and Peter Vischer
are also associated with Nuremberg.
Composed of prosperous artisans, the guilds of the Meistersinger
s flourished here. Richard Wagner
made their most famous member, Hans Sachs
, the hero of his opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
. Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel
was born here and was organist of St. Sebaldus Church
.
The academy of fine arts
situated in Nuremberg is the oldest art academy in central Europe and looks back to a tradition of 350 years of artistic education.
Nuremberg is also famous for its Christkindlesmarkt
(Christmas market), which draws well over a million shoppers each year. The market is famous for its handmade ornaments and delicacies.
, Ballet
s and Theatre
(drama). During the season 2009/2010, the theatre presented 651 performances for an audience of 240,000 persons.
The Nuremberg Philharmonic (Nürnberger Philharmoniker) is the orchestra of the State Theatre. Besides opera performances, it also presents its own subscription concert series in the Meistersingerhalle. Christof Prick has been the principal conductor of the orchestra since 2006.
The Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra
(Nürnberger Symphoniker) performs around 100 concerts a year to a combined annual audience of more than 180,000. The regular subscription concert series are mostly performed in the Meistersingerhalle but other venues are used as well, including the new concert hall of the Kongresshalle and the Serenadenhof. Alexander Shelley
has been the principal conductor of the orchestra since 2009.
, which is shorter and thinner than other bratwurst sausages.
Another Nuremberg speciality is Nürnberger Lebkuchen
, a kind of ginger bread eaten mainly around Christmas time.
.
–Frankfurt–Würzburg
–Vienna
) passes in a south-easterly direction along the north-east of the city. The A9 (Berlin
–Munich
) passes in a north–south direction on the east of the city. The A6
(France
–Saarbrücken
–Prague
) passes in an east–west direction to the south of the city. Finally, the A73 begins in the south-east of Nuremberg and travels north-west through the city before continuing towards Fürth
and Bamberg
.
Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof
is a stop for IC
and ICE trains on the German long-distance railway network. The Nuremberg–Ingolstadt
–Munich
High-Speed line with 300 km/h operation opened May 28, 2006, and was fully integrated into the rail schedule on December 10, 2006. Travel times to Munich have been reduced to as little as one hour.
has flights to major German cities and many European destinations, as well as connecting flights worldwide, for example via Frankfurt
or Vienna
.
Air Berlin
uses Nuremberg Airport
as the airline's hub, especially in the winter season.
was opened in 1881. , it extended a total length of 36 km (22.4 mi), had six lines, and carried 39.152 million passengers annually. The first segment of the Nuremberg U-Bahn
metro system was opened in 1972. Nuremberg's trams, bus
es and metro system are operated by the VAG Nürnberg (Verkehrsaktiengesellschaft Nürnberg or Nuremberg Transport Corporation), itself a member of the VGN (Verkehrsverbund Grossraum Nürnberg or Greater Nuremberg Transport Network).
There is also a Nuremberg S-Bahn suburban metro railway and a regional train network, both centred on Nuremberg Central Station
.
Since 2008, Nuremberg has had the first U-Bahn in Germany (U3) that works without a driver. It also is the first subway system worldwide in which both driver-operated trains and computer-controlled trains share tracks.
. The official colours of the association are red and white, but the traditional colours are red and black. The current chairmen are Martin Bader and Ralf Woy. They play in the EasyCredit Stadium
, which was refurbished for the World Cup in 2006
and accommodates 48,553 spectators.
with: Nice
, France
, since 1954 Kraków
, Poland
, since 1979 Skopje
, Macedonia
, since 1982 Glasgow
, Scotland
since 1985 San Carlos
, Nicaragua
, since 1985 Gera
, Germany
, since 1988, renewed 1997 Prague
, Czech Republic
, since 1990 Kharkiv
, Ukraine
, since 1990 Hadera
, Israel
, since 1995 Shenzhen
, China
since 1997 Antalya
, Turkey
, since 1997 Kavala
, Greece
, since 1998 Atlanta, United States
, since 1998 Venice
, Italy
, since 1999
Klausen / Chiusa, Italy 1970 Kalkudah
, Sri Lanka
2005 Verona
, Italy 2006 Kronstadt
/Brasov
, Romania
2006 Bologna
, Italy 2006 Bar
, Montenegro
2006 Cordoba
, Spain
2008
There is also economic co-operation with other regions or towns, such as: Changping
, China
2006
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
state of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, in the administrative region
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
of Middle Franconia
Middle Franconia
Middle Franconia is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is in the west of Bavaria and adjoins the state of Baden-Württemberg...
. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about 170 kilometres (105.6 mi) north of Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and is Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
's largest city. The population (as of December 2010) is 505,664. The "European Metropolitan Area Nuremberg" has 3.5 million inhabitants.
Middle Ages
probably founded around the turn of the 11th century, according to the first documentary mention of the city in 1050, as the location of an Imperial castle between the East Franks and the Bavarian March of the NordgauMarch of the Nordgau
The March of the Nordgau or the Bavarian Nordgau was a margraviate in the north of the duchy of Bavaria in the High Middle Ages. It covered the region roughly covered by the modern Upper Palatinate along the river Main. The chief cities of the Nordgau were the Frankish cities Nuremberg and...
. From 1050 to 1571, the city expanded and rose dramatically in importance due to its location on key trade routes. King Conrad III
Conrad III of Germany
Conrad III was the first King of Germany of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. He was the son of Frederick I, Duke of Swabia, and Agnes, a daughter of the Salian Emperor Henry IV.-Life and reign:...
established a burgraviate, with the first burgraves coming from the Austrian House of Raab
Raabs an der Thaya
Raabs an der Thaya is a municipality with 3,114 inhabitants in Waidhofen an der Thaya in the Waldviertel of Lower Austria, near the Austrian border with the Czech Republic. The area of the municipality is 134.65 square kilometers, 27.6% of which is forested.The German Thaya and the Moravian Thaya...
but, with the extinction of their male line around 1190, the burgraviate was inherited by the last count's son-in-law, of the House of Hohenzollern
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
. From the late 12th century to the Interregnum (1254–73), however, the power of the burgraves diminished as the Staufen
Staufen
Staufen refers to:*Hohenstaufen, a dynasty of German emperors*Staufen im Breisgau, a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany*Staufen, Switzerland, a municipality in Aargau*Staufen , a protein found in the egg of Drosophila...
emperors transferred most non-military powers to a castellan, with the city administration and the municipal courts handed over to an Imperial mayor from 1173/74. The strained relations between the burgraves and the castellan, with gradual transferral of powers to the latter in the late-14th and early-15th centuries, finally broke out into open enmity, which greatly influenced the history of the city.
Nuremberg is often referred to as having been the 'unofficial capital
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
' of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
, particularly because Reichstage
Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)
The Imperial Diet was the Diet, or general assembly, of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire.During the period of the Empire, which lasted formally until 1806, the Diet was not a parliament in today's sense; instead, it was an assembly of the various estates of the realm...
(Imperial Diets) and courts met at Nuremberg Castle
Nuremberg Castle
Nuremberg Castle is a historical building on a sandstone rock in the north of the historical city of Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. It comprises three sections: the imperial castle , some buildings of the Burgraves of Nuremberg , and the municipal buildings of the Imperial City at the eastern site...
. The Diets of Nuremberg
Diet of Nuremberg
The Diet of Nuremberg is often called the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg.There were several of them because, according to the Golden Bull of 1356, each Holy Roman Emperor had to hold his first diet in Nuremberg after his election...
were an important part of the administrative structure of the empire. The increasing demand of the royal court and the increasing importance of the city attracted increased trade and commerce to Nuremberg. In 1219, Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
granted the (Great Letter of Freedom), including town rights
German town law
German town law or German municipal concerns concerns town privileges used by many cities, towns, and villages throughout Central and Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages.- Town law in Germany :...
, Reichsfreiheit (or Imperial immediacy), the privilege to mint coins and an independent customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
policy, almost wholly removing the city from the purview of the burgraves. Nuremberg soon became, with Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, one of the two great trade centers on the route from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to Northern Europe. In 1298, the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
of the town were accused of having desecrated
Host desecration
Host desecration is a form of sacrilege in Christianity involving the mistreatment or malicious use of a consecrated host— the sacred bread used in the Eucharistic service or Mass...
the host
Sacramental bread
Sacramental bread, sometimes called the lamb, altar bread, host or simply Communion bread, is the bread which is used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist.-Eastern Catholic and Orthodox:...
and 698 were slain in one of the many Rintfleisch Massacres
Rintfleisch-Pogrom
The Rintfleisch-Pogrom was a pogrom against Jews in the year 1298.It was set during the civil strife between King Adolf of Nassau and his rival Albert of Austria, when imperial authority, traditionally concerned with the protection of the Jews, had temporarily collapsed.The Jews of the Franconian...
. Behind the massacre in 1298 was also the desire to combine the northern and southern parts of the city, which were divided by the Pegnitz river. The Jews of the German lands suffered many massacres during the plague
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
years. In 1349 Nuremberg's Jews were subjected to a pogrom. The plague was also present in 1405, 1435, 1437, 1482, 1494, 1520 and 1534.
The largest gains for Nuremberg were in the 14th century; including Charles IV
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV , born Wenceslaus , was the second king of Bohemia from the House of Luxembourg, and the first king of Bohemia to also become Holy Roman Emperor....
's Golden Bull of 1356
Golden Bull of 1356
The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by the Reichstag assembly in Nuremberg headed by the Luxembourg Emperor Charles IV that fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire...
, naming Nuremberg as the city where newly-elected kings of Germany must hold their first Reichstag, making Nuremberg one of the three most important cities of the Empire. Charles was the patron of the Nuremberg Frauenkirche
Nuremberg Frauenkirche
The Frauenkirche is a church in Nuremberg, Germany. It stands on the eastern side of the main market. An example of brick Gothic architecture, it was built on the initiative of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor between 1352 and 1362. The church contains many sculptures, some of them heavily restored...
, built between 1352 and 1362 (the architect was likely Peter Parler
Peter Parler
Peter Parler, , Schwäbisch Gmünd – July 13, 1399, Prague) was a German architect, best known for building Saint Vitus Cathedral and Charles Bridge in Prague, where he lived from about 1356....
), where the Imperial court worshipped during its stays in Nuremberg. The royal and Imperial connection was strengthened when Sigismund of Luxembourg
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
Sigismund of Luxemburg KG was King of Hungary, of Croatia from 1387 to 1437, of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Italy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411...
granted the Imperial regalia to be kept permanently in Nuremberg in 1423, where they remained until 1796, when the advancing French troops required their removal to Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
and thence to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
In 1349 the members of the guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s unsuccessfully rebelled against the patricians in the Handwerkeraufstand (Craftsmen's Uprising), supported by merchants and some councillors, leading to a ban on any self-organisation of the artisans in the city, abolishing the guilds that were customary elsewhere in Europe; the unions were then dissolved, and the oligarchs remained in power while Nuremberg was a free city. Charles IV conferred upon the city the right to conclude alliances independently, thereby placing it upon a politically equal footing with the princes of the empire. Frequent fights took place with the burgraves without, however, inflicting lasting damage upon the city. After the castle had been destroyed by fire in 1420 during a feud between Frederick IV
Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg
Frederick was Burgrave of Nuremberg as Frederick VI and Elector of Brandenburg as Frederick I. He was a son of Burgrave Frederick V of Nuremberg and Elisabeth of Meissen, and was the first member of the House of Hohenzollern to rule the Margraviate of Brandenburg.- Biography :Frederick entered...
(since 1417 margrave of Brandenburg) and the duke of Bavaria-Ingolstadt
Bavaria-Ingolstadt
Bavaria-Ingolstadt was a duchy which was part of the Holy Roman Empire from 1392 to 1447.-History:After the death of Stephen II in 1375, his sons Stephen III, Frederick, and John II jointly ruled Bavaria-Landshut. After seventeen years, the brothers decided to formally divide their inheritance...
, the ruins and the forest belonging to the castle were purchased by the city (1427), resulting in the city's total sovereignty within its borders. Through these and other acquisitions the city accumulated considerable territory. The Hussite Wars
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1419 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were notable for the extensive use of early hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons...
, recurrence of the Black Death in 1437, and the First Margrave War
First Margrave War
The First Margrave War from 1449–50 was the result of disputes between the Imperial City of Nuremberg and Albert III Achilles, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Numerous towns in Franconia in modern Germany were badly affected by the war....
led to a severe fall in population in the mid-15th century. At the beginning of the 16th century, siding with Albert IV
Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria
Duke Albert IV of Bavaria-Munich , , from 1467 Duke of Bavaria-Munich, from 1503 Duke of the reunited Bavaria.-Biography:...
, Duke of Bavaria-Munich
Bavaria-Munich
-History:After the death of Stephen II in 1375, his sons Stephen III, Frederick, and John II jointly ruled Bavaria-Landshut. After seventeen years, the brothers decided to formally divide their inheritance. John received Bavaria-Munich, Stephen received Bavaria-Ingolstadt, while Frederick kept...
, in the Landshut War of Succession
Landshut War of Succession
The Landshut War of Succession resulted from an agreement between the duchies of Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Landshut . The agreement concerned the law of succession when one of the two Dukes should die without a male heir...
led the city to gain substantial territory, resulting in lands of 25 sq mi (64.7 km²), becoming one of the largest Imperial cities.
Early modern age
The cultural flowering of Nuremberg, in the 15th and 16th centuries, made it the centre of the German RenaissanceGerman Renaissance
The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which originated from the Italian Renaissance in Italy...
. In 1525, Nuremberg accepted the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, and in 1532, the religious Peace of Nuremberg, by which the Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
s gained important concessions, was signed there. During the 1552 revolution against Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, Nuremberg tried to purchase its neutrality, but the city was attacked without a declaration of war and was forced into a disadvantageous peace. At the Peace of Augsburg
Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg, also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes, on September 25, 1555, at the imperial city of Augsburg, now in present-day Bavaria, Germany.It officially ended the religious...
, the possessions of the Protestants were confirmed by the Emperor, their religious privileges extended and their independence from the Bishop of Bamberg affirmed, while the 1520s' secularisation of the monasteries was also approved.
The state of affairs in the early 16th century, increased trade routes elsewhere and the ossification of the social hierarchy and legal structures contributed to the decline in trade. Frequent quartering of Imperial, Swedish and League
Catholic League (German)
The German Catholic League was initially a loose confederation of Roman Catholic German states formed on July 10, 1609 to counteract the Protestant Union , whereby the participating states concluded an alliance "for the defence of the Catholic religion and peace within the Empire." Modeled...
soldiers, the financial costs of the war and the cessation of trade caused irreparable damage to the city and a near-halving of the population. In 1632, the city, occupied by the forces of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...
, was besieged
Siege of Nuremberg
The Siege of Nuremberg or Siege of Nürnberg was a battle campaign that took place in 1632 about the Imperial City of Nuremberg during the Thirty Years' War....
by the army of Imperial general Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein , actually von Waldstein, was a Bohemian soldier and politician, who offered his services, and an army of 30,000 to 100,000 men during the Danish period of the Thirty Years' War , to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II...
. The city declined after the war and recovered its importance only in the 19th century, when it grew as an industrial centre. Even after the Thirty Years' War, however, there was a late flowering of architecture and culture — secular Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
is exemplified in the layout of the civic gardens built outside the city walls, and in the Protestant city's rebuilding of the Egidienkirche, destroyed by fire at the beginning of the 18th century, considered a significant contribution to the baroque church architecture of Middle Franconia.
After the Thirty Years' War, Nuremberg attempted to remain detached from external affairs, but contributions were demanded for the War of the Austrian Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
and the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
and restrictions of imports and exports deprived the city of many markets for its manufactures. The Bavarian elector, Charles Theodore
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria
Charles Theodore, Prince-Elector, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria reigned as Prince-Elector and Count palatine from 1742, as Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1742 and also as Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777, until his death...
, appropriated part of the land obtained by the city during the Landshut War of Succession
Landshut War of Succession
The Landshut War of Succession resulted from an agreement between the duchies of Bavaria-Munich and Bavaria-Landshut . The agreement concerned the law of succession when one of the two Dukes should die without a male heir...
, to which Bavaria had maintained its claim; Prussia also claimed part of the territory. Realising its weakness, the city asked to be incorporated into Prussia but Frederick William II
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
refused, fearing to offend Austria, Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and France
Early Modern France
Kingdom of France is the early modern period of French history from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century...
. At the Imperial diet in 1803, the independence of Nuremberg was affirmed, but on the signing of the Confederation of the Rhine
Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederation of the Rhine was a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria's Francis II and Russia's Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the...
on 12 July 1806, it was agreed to hand the city over to Bavaria from 8 September, with Bavaria guaranteeing the amortisation of the city's 12.5 million guilder public debt.
After the Great French War
After the fall of Napoleon, the city's trade and commerce revived; the skill of its inhabitants together with its favourable situation soon made the city prosperous, particularly after its public debt had been acknowledged as a part of the Bavarian national debt. Having been incorporated into a Catholic country, the city was compelled to refrain from further discrimination against Catholics, who had been excluded from the rights of citizenship. Catholic services had been celebrated in the city by the priests of the Teutonic Order, often under great difficulties. After their possessions had been confiscated by the Bavarian government in 1806, they were given the Frauenkirche on the Market in 1809; in 1810 the first Catholic parish was established, which in 1818 numbered 1010 souls.In 1817, the city was incorporated into the district of Rezatkreis (named for the Franconian Rezat
Fränkische Rezat
The Fränkische Rezat is a 64 km long river in southern Germany. It is the western, left source river of the Rednitz. It rises in the Frankenhöhe hills, near Oberdachstetten. It flows generally east through the towns Lehrberg, Ansbach, Windsbach and Spalt. It flows into the Rednitz in Georgensgmünd....
river), which was renamed to Middle Franconia
Middle Franconia
Middle Franconia is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is in the west of Bavaria and adjoins the state of Baden-Württemberg...
on 1 January 1838. The first German railway, the Bavarian Ludwigsbahn
Bavarian Ludwigsbahn
The Bavarian Ludwig Railway was the first steam-hauled railway opened in Germany. The Königlich privilegirte Ludwigs-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft received a concession to build a railway from Nuremberg to Fürth in the state of Bavaria on 19...
, from Nuremberg to nearby Fürth
Fürth
The city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....
, was opened in 1835. The establishment of railways and the incorporation of Bavaria into Zollverein
Zollverein
thumb|upright=1.2|The German Zollverein 1834–1919blue = Prussia in 1834 grey= Included region until 1866yellow= Excluded after 1866red = Borders of the German Union of 1828 pink= Relevant others until 1834...
(the 19th century German Customs Union), commerce and industry opened the way to greater prosperity. In 1852, there were 53,638 inhabitants: 46,441 Protestants and 6616 Catholics. It subsequently grew to become the most important industrial city of Bavaria and one of the most prosperous towns of southern Germany. In 1905, its population, including several incorporated suburbs, was 291,351: 86,943 Catholics, 196,913 Protestants, 3738 Jews and 3766 members of other creeds.
Nazi era
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
era. Because of the city's relevance to the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
and its position in the centre of Germany, the Nazi Party chose the city to be the site of huge Nazi Party conventions — the Nuremberg rallies
Nuremberg Rally
The Nuremberg Rally was the annual rally of the NSDAP in Germany, held from 1923 to 1938. Especially after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, they were large Nazi propaganda events...
. The rallies were held annually from 1927 to 1938 in Nuremberg. After Adolf Hitler's rise to power
Machtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
in 1933 the Nuremberg rallies became huge Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
events, a centre of Nazi ideals. The 1934 rally was filmed by Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl
Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
, and made into a propaganda film called Triumph des Willens
Triumph of the Will
Triumph of the Will is a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of...
(Triumph of the Will). At the 1935 rally, Hitler specifically ordered the Reichstag
Reichstag (Weimar Republic)
The Reichstag was the parliament of Weimar Republic .German constitution commentators consider only the Reichstag and now the Bundestag the German parliament. Another organ deals with legislation too: in 1867-1918 the Bundesrat, in 1919–1933 the Reichsrat and from 1949 on the Bundesrat...
to convene at Nuremberg to pass the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws
Nuremberg Laws
The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 were antisemitic laws in Nazi Germany introduced at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. After the takeover of power in 1933 by Hitler, Nazism became an official ideology incorporating scientific racism and antisemitism...
which revoked German citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
for all Jews. A number of premises were constructed solely for these assemblies, some of which were not finished. Today many examples of Nazi architecture
Nazi architecture
Nazi architecture was an architectural plan which played a role in the Nazi party's plans to create a cultural and spiritual rebirth in Germany as part of the Third Reich....
can still be seen in the city. The city was also the home of the Nazi propagandist
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
Julius Streicher
Julius Streicher
Julius Streicher was a prominent Nazi prior to World War II. He was the founder and publisher of Der Stürmer newspaper, which became a central element of the Nazi propaganda machine...
, the publisher of Der Stürmer
Der Stürmer
Der Stürmer was a weekly tabloid-format Nazi newspaper published by Julius Streicher from 1923 to the end of World War II in 1945, with brief suspensions in publication due to legal difficulties. It was a significant part of the Nazi propaganda machinery and was vehemently anti-Semitic...
.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Nuremberg was the headquarters of Wehrkreis (military district) XIII, and an important site for military production, including aircraft, submarines, and tank engines. A subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp
Flossenbürg concentration camp
Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the border with Czechoslovakia. Until its liberation in April 1945, more than 96,000 prisoners...
was located here. Extensive use was made of slave labour
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. The city was severely damaged in Allied strategic bombing
Strategic bombing during World War II
Strategic bombing during World War II is a term which refers to all aerial bombardment of a strategic nature between 1939 and 1945 involving any nations engaged in World War II...
from 1943–45. On January 2, 1945, the medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
city centre was systematically bombed by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
and the U.S. Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
and about ninety percent of it was destroyed in only one hour, with 1,800 residents killed and roughly 100,000 displaced. In February 1945, additional attacks followed. In total, about 6,000 Nuremberg residents are estimated to have been killed in air raids.
Nuremberg was a heavily fortified city that was captured in a fierce battle lasting from 17 April to 21 April 1945 by the 3rd Infantry Division, 42nd Infantry Division, and 45th Infantry Division, which fought house-to-house and block-by-block against determined German resistance, causing further urban devastation to the already bombed and shelled buildings. Despite this intense degree of destruction, the city was rebuilt after the war and was to some extent, restored to its pre-war appearance including the reconstruction of some of its medieval buildings. However, the biggest part of the historic structural condition of the old Imperial Free City was lost forever.
Nuremberg Trials
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and other war crimes were brought before an international tribunal in the Nuremberg Trials. The Soviet Union had wanted these trials to take place in Berlin. However, Nuremberg was chosen as the site for the trials for specific reasons:
- The city had been the location of the Nazi Party's Nuremberg rallies and the laws stripping Jews of their citizenship were passed there. There was symbolic value in making it the place of Nazi demise.
- The Palace of Justice was spacious and largely undamaged (one of the few that had remained largely intact despite extensive Allied bombing of Germany). The already large courtroom was reasonably easily expanded by the removal of the wall at the end opposite the bench, thereby incorporating the adjoining room. A large prisonPrisonA prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
was also part of the complex. - As a compromise, it was agreed that Berlin would become the permanent seat of the International Military Tribunal and that the first trial (several were planned) would take place in Nuremberg. Due to the Cold WarCold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, subsequent trials never took place.
The same courtroom in Nuremberg was the venue of the Nuremberg Military Tribunals
Subsequent Nuremberg Trials
The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials were a series of twelve U.S...
, organised by the United States as occupying power in the area.
Geography and Demographics
Several old villages now belong to the city, for example Grossgründlach, Kraftshof, Thon, and Neunhof in the north-west; Ziegelstein in the north-east, Altenfurt and Fischbach in the south-east; and KatzwangKatzwang
Katzwang, formerly a separate municipality, has been a part of Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany, since 1 July 1972. It is located on a ford across the Rednitz river, in the south of the city ....
, Kornburg in the south. Langwasser
Langwasser
Langwasser is a district of Nuremberg in the southeastern area of the city. It was developed as a prototype of the satellite town concept in the 1960s and is primarily a suburban residential area...
is a modern suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
.
Today Nuremberg is a multicultural city. 37% of the residents have an immigrant background.
Economy
Nuremberg for many people is still associated with its traditional gingerbread (LebkuchenLebkuchen
Lebkuchen is a traditional German baked Christmas treat, somewhat resembling gingerbread.Lebkuchen were invented by Medieval monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century. Lebkuchen bakers were recorded as early as 1296 in Ulm, and 1395 in Nürnberg...
) products, sausages, and handmade toys. Pocket watch
Pocket watch
A pocket watch is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design,...
es — Nuremberg eggs
Nuremberg eggs
Peter Henlein made watches in Nuremberg at the beginning of the sixteenth century and these are commonly called Nuremberg eggs. This name is regarded as a myth, resulting from a mistranslation of a sentence in Rabelais...
— were made here in the sixteenth century by Peter Henlein
Peter Henlein
Peter Henlein , a locksmith and watchmaker from Nuremberg, is often considered the inventor of the portable timekeeper, making him the inventor of the watch, but this claim is disputed...
. In the nineteenth century Nuremberg became the "industrial heart" of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
with companies such as Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
and MAN establishing a strong base in the city. Nuremberg is still an important industrial centre with a strong standing in the markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Items manufactured in the area include electrical equipment, mechanical and optical products, motor vehicles, writing and drawing paraphernalia, stationery products, and printed materials. The city is also strong in the fields of automation, energy, and medical technology. Siemens is still the largest industrial employer in the Nuremberg region but a good third of German market research agencies is also located in the city. The Nuremberg International Toy Fair
Nuremberg International Toy Fair
Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg is the largest international trade fair for toys and games. Only trade visitors associated with the toy business, journalists and invited guests are admitted...
is the largest of its kind in the world. The city also hosts several specialist hi-tech fairs every year, attracting experts from every corner of the globe.
Bandai
Bandai
is a Japanese toy making and video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third-largest producer of toys . Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs...
Germany has its head office in Nuremberg.
Culture
Nuremberg was an early centre of humanism, science, printing, and mechanical invention. The city contributed much to the science of astronomyAstronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
. In 1471 Johannes Mueller of Königsberg
Königsberg, Bavaria
Königsberg in Bayern is a town in the Haßberge district, in Lower Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 7 km northeast of Haßfurt, and 31 km northwest of Bamberg....
(Bavaria), later called Regiomontanus
Regiomontanus
Johannes Müller von Königsberg , today best known by his Latin toponym Regiomontanus, was a German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, translator and instrument maker....
, built an astronomical observatory in Nuremberg and published many important astronomical charts. In 1515, Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
, a native of Nuremberg, mapped the stars of the northern and southern hemispheres, producing the first printed star charts, which had been ordered by Johannes Stabius
Johannes Stabius
Johannes Stabius was an Austrian cartographer of Vienna who developed, around 1500, the heart-shape projection map later developed further by Johannes Werner. It is called the Werner map projection, but also the Stabius-Werner or the Stab-Werner projection...
. Around 1515 Dürer also published the "Stabiussche Weltkarte", the first perspective drawing of the terrestrial globe. Perhaps most famously, the main part of Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
's work was published in Nuremberg in 1543.
Printers and publishers have a long history in Nuremberg. Many of these publishers worked with well-known artists of the day to produce books that could also be considered works of art. In 1470 Anton Koberger
Anton Koberger
Anton Koberger was the German goldsmith, printer and publisher who printed and published the Nuremberg Chronicle, a landmark of incunabula, and was a successful bookseller of works from other printers...
opened Europe's first print shop in Nuremberg. In 1493, he published the Nuremberg Chronicles, also known as the World Chronicles (Schedelsche Weltchronik), an illustrated history of the world from the creation to the present day. It was written in the local Franconian dialect by Hartmann Schedel
Hartmann Schedel
Hartmann Schedel was a German physician, humanist, historian, and one of the first cartographers to use the printing press. He was born in Nuremberg...
and had illustrations by Michael Wohlgemuth
Michael Wolgemut
Michael Wolgemut was a German painter and printmaker, born in Nuremberg.-Biography:Little is known of Wolgemut's private life...
, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff
Hans Pleydenwurff
Hans Pleydenwurff was a German painter.His father was probably Kunz Pleydenwurff, a well-respected painter and part-time mayor in Bamberg. Since 1457, Hans lived in Nuremberg where he established a new style of realism, influenced by Northern Renaissance painters...
, and Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
. Others furthered geographical knowledge and travel by map making. Notable among these was navigator and geographer Martin Behaim
Martin Behaim
Martin Behaim , was a German mariner, artist, cosmographer, astronomer, philosopher, geographer and explorer in service to the King of Portugal.-Biography:The Behaim family had immigrated to Nuremberg because of religious persecution around...
, who made the first world globe.
Sculptors such as Veit Stoss
Veit Stoss
Veit Stoss was a leading Bavarian sculptor, mostly in wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque"...
, Adam Kraft
Adam Kraft
Adam Kraft was a German stone sculptor and master builder of the late Gothic period, based in Nuremberg and with a documented career there from 1490...
and Peter Vischer
Peter Vischer the Elder
Peter Vischer the Elder was a German sculptor, the son of Hermann Vischer, and the most famous member of the noted Vischer Family of Nuremberg....
are also associated with Nuremberg.
Composed of prosperous artisans, the guilds of the Meistersinger
Meistersinger
A Meistersinger was a member of a German guild for lyric poetry, composition and unaccompanied art song of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The Meistersingers were drawn from middle class males for the most part.-Guilds:...
s flourished here. Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
made their most famous member, Hans Sachs
Hans Sachs
Hans Sachs was a German meistersinger , poet, playwright and shoemaker.-Biography:Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg . His father was a tailor. He attended Latin school in Nuremberg...
, the hero of his opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...
. Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
was born here and was organist of St. Sebaldus Church
St. Sebaldus Church
St. Sebaldus Church is a medieval church in Nuremberg, Germany. Along with Frauenkirche and St. Lorenz, it is one of the most important churches of the city, and also one of the oldest. It is located at the Albrecht-Dürer-Platz, in front of the old city hall...
.
The academy of fine arts
Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg
The Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg The art academy is situated in Nuremberg.In the classes for fine arts, sculpture, visual arts, painting, artistic concepts, art education, gold- and silversmithing, as well as graphic design, the professors and students carry out candid discussions...
situated in Nuremberg is the oldest art academy in central Europe and looks back to a tradition of 350 years of artistic education.
Nuremberg is also famous for its Christkindlesmarkt
Christkindlesmarkt, Nuremberg
Christkindlesmarkt is a Christmas market held annually in Nuremberg, Germany.. It takes place during Advent in the Hauptmarkt, the central squaree in Nuremberg’s old town, and in adjoining squares and streets. With about two million visitors a year the Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt is one of the...
(Christmas market), which draws well over a million shoppers each year. The market is famous for its handmade ornaments and delicacies.
Museums in Nuremberg
- Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally GroundsDocumentation Center Nazi Party Rally GroundsThe Documentation Center Nazi Party Rallying Grounds is a museum in Nuremberg. It is in the north wing of the unfinished remains of the Congress Hall of the former Nazi party rallies. Its permanent exhibition "Fascination and Terror" is concerned with the causes, connections, and consequences of...
- Germanisches NationalmuseumGermanisches NationalmuseumThe Germanisches Nationalmuseum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day...
- House of Albrecht DürerAlbrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
- Kunsthalle NürnbergKunsthalle NürnbergThe Kunsthalle Nürnberg is an art centre founded in 1967, near the city centre. It hosts exhibitions by contemporary international artists in Nuremberg...
- Kunstverein NürnbergKunstverein NürnbergThe Kunstverein Nürnberg is a venue for exhibitions of contemporary art. The association was founded in 1792 and is Germany's oldest arts association....
- Neues Museum NürnbergNeues Museum NürnbergNeues Museum Nürnberg is a museum for modern and contemporary art and design in Nuremberg, Germany. It was opened in April 2000....
(Modern Art Museum) - Nuremberg Toy MuseumNuremberg Toy MuseumThe Toy Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Bavaria. Located in a city famous for its toy-makers, it was founded in 1971, and is based on the toy collection of Lydia and Paul Bayer....
- Nuremberg Transport MuseumNuremberg Transport MuseumThe Nuremberg Transport Museum is based in Nuremberg, Germany, and consists of the Deutsche Bahn's own DB Museum and the Museum of Communications . It also has two satellite museums at Koblenz-Lützel and Halle...
Performing arts
The Nuremberg State Theatre (Staatstheater Nürnberg), founded in 1906, is dedicated to all types of OperaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, Ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
s and Theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
(drama). During the season 2009/2010, the theatre presented 651 performances for an audience of 240,000 persons.
The Nuremberg Philharmonic (Nürnberger Philharmoniker) is the orchestra of the State Theatre. Besides opera performances, it also presents its own subscription concert series in the Meistersingerhalle. Christof Prick has been the principal conductor of the orchestra since 2006.
The Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra
Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra
The Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra is a German orchestra based in Nuremberg.- History :The orchestra began in 1946 as the Franconia State Orchestra...
(Nürnberger Symphoniker) performs around 100 concerts a year to a combined annual audience of more than 180,000. The regular subscription concert series are mostly performed in the Meistersingerhalle but other venues are used as well, including the new concert hall of the Kongresshalle and the Serenadenhof. Alexander Shelley
Alexander Shelley
Alexander Shelley is an English conductor.-Biography:Alexander Shelley is an English conductor and cellist born in 1979 into a family of musicians and is chief conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra...
has been the principal conductor of the orchestra since 2009.
Cuisine
Nuremberg is known for Nürnberger BratwurstBratwurst
A bratwurst is a sausage usually composed of veal, pork or beef. The plural in German is Bratwürste....
, which is shorter and thinner than other bratwurst sausages.
Another Nuremberg speciality is Nürnberger Lebkuchen
Lebkuchen
Lebkuchen is a traditional German baked Christmas treat, somewhat resembling gingerbread.Lebkuchen were invented by Medieval monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century. Lebkuchen bakers were recorded as early as 1296 in Ulm, and 1395 in Nürnberg...
, a kind of ginger bread eaten mainly around Christmas time.
Main sights
of the old town, known as Lorenzer Seite, is separated from the north by the river Pegnitz and encircled to the south by the city wallsCity walls of Nuremberg
The Nürnberg City walls surrounding the old town of Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany. Built between 12th and 16th centuries they run for 5 kilometers around the old town.-Sources and external links:...
.
- Nuremberg CastleNuremberg CastleNuremberg Castle is a historical building on a sandstone rock in the north of the historical city of Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. It comprises three sections: the imperial castle , some buildings of the Burgraves of Nuremberg , and the municipal buildings of the Imperial City at the eastern site...
: the three castles that tower over the city including central burgraves' castle, with Free Reich's buildings to the east, the Imperial castle to the west. - Heilig-Geist-Spital. In the centre of the city, on the bank of the river Pegnitz, stands the Hospital of the Holy Spirit. Founded in 1332, this is one of the largest hospitals of the Middle AgesMiddle AgesThe Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Lepers were kept here at some distance from the other patients. It now houses elderly persons and a restaurant. - Hauptmarkt, which provides a picturesque setting and famous market for gingerbread. Nuremberg's star attraction is the Gothic Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) which was erected around 1385 but subsequently replaced with a replica (the original fountain is kept in the Germanisches NationalmuseumGermanisches NationalmuseumThe Germanisches Nationalmuseum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day...
). The unchanged RenaissanceRenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
bridge FleischbrückeFleischbrückeThe Fleisch Bridge or Pegnitz Bridge is a late Renaissance bridge in Nuremberg, Germany. The bridge crosses the river Pegnitz in the center of the old town, linking the districts St. Sebald and St. Lorenz along the axis of the main market...
crosses the Pegnitz nearby. - The following churches are located inside the city walls: St Sebald'sSt. Sebaldus ChurchSt. Sebaldus Church is a medieval church in Nuremberg, Germany. Along with Frauenkirche and St. Lorenz, it is one of the most important churches of the city, and also one of the oldest. It is located at the Albrecht-Dürer-Platz, in front of the old city hall...
, St. Laurence'sSt. Lorenz (Nürnberg)St. Lorenz is a medieval church of the former free imperial city of Nuremberg, southern Germany. It is dedicated to Saint Lawrence. It was badly damaged during the Second World War and later rebuilt. It is one of the most prominent churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria.The choir...
, FrauenkircheNuremberg FrauenkircheThe Frauenkirche is a church in Nuremberg, Germany. It stands on the eastern side of the main market. An example of brick Gothic architecture, it was built on the initiative of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor between 1352 and 1362. The church contains many sculptures, some of them heavily restored...
(Our Lady's Church), Saint Clare's, Saint Martha'sMartha, mother of Symeon Stylites the YoungerSaint Martha was the mother of Simeon Stylites the Younger. She is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on July 4.When her parents betrothed her to a young man, she seriously considered leaving home and withdrawing from the world...
, Saint James the Greater's, Saint Giles'sSaint GilesSaint Giles was a Greek Christian hermit saint from Athens, whose legend is centered in Provence and Septimania. The tomb in the abbey Giles was said to have founded, in St-Gilles-du-Gard, became a place of pilgrimage and a stop on the road that led from Arles to Santiago de Compostela, the...
, and Saint Elisabeth'sElizabeth (Biblical person)Elizabeth is also spelled Elisabeth or Elisheva...
. - GothicInternational GothicInternational Gothic is a phase of Gothic art which developed in Burgundy, Bohemia, France and northern Italy in the late 14th century and early 15th century...
St Lorenz-Kirche (St. Lorenz church, St. Laurence), one of the most important buildings in Nuremberg. The main body was built around 1270-1350. - The church of the former Katharinenkloster is preserved as a ruin, the charterhouseNuremberg CharterhouseNuremberg Charterhouse was a Carthusian monastery, or charterhouse, in Nuremberg in Germany. Its surviving premises are now incorporated into the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.- History :...
(Kartause) is integrated into the building of the Germanisches NationalmuseumGermanisches NationalmuseumThe Germanisches Nationalmuseum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day...
and the choir of the former Franziskanerkirche is part of a modern building. - The Neues Museum NürnbergNeues Museum NürnbergNeues Museum Nürnberg is a museum for modern and contemporary art and design in Nuremberg, Germany. It was opened in April 2000....
is a museum for modern and contemporary art - The Walburga Chapel and the Romanesque Doppelkapelle (Chapel with two floors) are part of Nuremberg Castle.
- The Johannisfriedhof is a medieval cemetery, containing many old graves (Albrecht DürerAlbrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
, Willibald PirckheimerWillibald PirckheimerWillibald Pirckheimer was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, and a member of the governing City Council for two periods...
, and others). The Rochusfriedhof or the Wöhrder Kirchhof are near the Old Town. - The Tiergarten NürnbergTiergarten NürnbergNuremberg Zoo is a zoo located in the Nuremberg Reichswald , southeast of Nuremberg, Germany. With an area of , approximately 300 animal species are kept by the zoo.- In the Middle Ages :...
is a zoo stretching over more than 60 hectares (148 acre) in the Nürnberger Reichswald forest. - There is also a medieval market just inside the city walls, selling handcrafted goods.
- The German National Railways Museum (an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial HeritageEuropean Route of Industrial HeritageThe European Route of Industrial Heritage is a network of the most important industrial heritage sites in Europe. The aim of the project is to create interest for the common European Heritage of the Industrialisation and its remains...
) is located in Nuremberg. - The Nuremberg Ring (now welded within an iron fence) is said to bring good luck to those that touch it.
- The Nazi party rally groundsNazi party rally groundsThe Nazi party rally grounds consist of about 11 square kilometres in the southeast of Nuremberg, Germany...
with the documentation-centreDocumentation Center Nazi Party Rally GroundsThe Documentation Center Nazi Party Rallying Grounds is a museum in Nuremberg. It is in the north wing of the unfinished remains of the Congress Hall of the former Nazi party rallies. Its permanent exhibition "Fascination and Terror" is concerned with the causes, connections, and consequences of...
.
Transport
The city's location next to numerous highways, railways, and a waterway has contributed to its rising importance for trade with Eastern Europe.Motorways
Nuremberg is conveniently located at the junction of several important Autobahn routes. The A3 (NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
–Frankfurt–Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
–Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
) passes in a south-easterly direction along the north-east of the city. The A9 (Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
–Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
) passes in a north–south direction on the east of the city. The A6
Bundesautobahn 6
, also known as Via Carolina is a 477 km long German autobahn. It starts at the French border near Saarbrücken in the west and end at the Czech border near Waidhaus in the east....
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
–Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
–Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
) passes in an east–west direction to the south of the city. Finally, the A73 begins in the south-east of Nuremberg and travels north-west through the city before continuing towards Fürth
Fürth
The city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....
and Bamberg
Bamberg
Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...
.
Railways
Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof
Nuremberg Central Station is the main railway station for the city of Nuremberg in Germany. It is the largest station in north Bavaria and belongs to the 20 stations in the highest category of importance allocated by DB Station&Service....
is a stop for IC
InterCity
InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...
and ICE trains on the German long-distance railway network. The Nuremberg–Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt is a city in the Free State of Bavaria, in the Federal Republic of Germany. It is located along the banks of the Danube River, in the center of Bavaria. As at 31 March 2011, Ingolstadt had 125.407 residents...
–Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
High-Speed line with 300 km/h operation opened May 28, 2006, and was fully integrated into the rail schedule on December 10, 2006. Travel times to Munich have been reduced to as little as one hour.
Airport
Nuremberg AirportNuremberg Airport
Nuremberg Airport is the international airport of the Franconian metropolitan area of Nuremberg and the second-busiest airport in Bavaria. The airport is ranked 10th among German airports and 87th in Europe. It is also a hub for Air Berlin - Germany's second largest airline...
has flights to major German cities and many European destinations, as well as connecting flights worldwide, for example via Frankfurt
Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport may refer to:Airports of Frankfurt, Germany:*Frankfurt Airport , the largest airport in Germany*Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport, a general aviation airport*Frankfurt-Hahn Airport , a converted U.S...
or Vienna
Vienna International Airport
Vienna International Airport , located in Schwechat and southeast of central Vienna, is the busiest and biggest airport in Austria. It is often referred to as Schwechat, the name of the county it is in. The airport is capable of handling wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A340...
.
Air Berlin
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers....
uses Nuremberg Airport
Nuremberg Airport
Nuremberg Airport is the international airport of the Franconian metropolitan area of Nuremberg and the second-busiest airport in Bavaria. The airport is ranked 10th among German airports and 87th in Europe. It is also a hub for Air Berlin - Germany's second largest airline...
as the airline's hub, especially in the winter season.
City and regional transport
The Nuremberg tramway networkTrams in Nuremberg
The Nuremberg tramway network forms part of the public transport system in Nuremberg, in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany.Opened in 1881, the network is currently operated by Verkehrs-Aktiengesellschaft Nürnberg...
was opened in 1881. , it extended a total length of 36 km (22.4 mi), had six lines, and carried 39.152 million passengers annually. The first segment of the Nuremberg U-Bahn
Nuremberg U-Bahn
The Nuremberg U-Bahn is a metro run by VAG Nürnberg , which itself is a member of the VGN . The Nuremberg U-Bahn is Germany's newest metro...
metro system was opened in 1972. Nuremberg's trams, bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es and metro system are operated by the VAG Nürnberg (Verkehrsaktiengesellschaft Nürnberg or Nuremberg Transport Corporation), itself a member of the VGN (Verkehrsverbund Grossraum Nürnberg or Greater Nuremberg Transport Network).
There is also a Nuremberg S-Bahn suburban metro railway and a regional train network, both centred on Nuremberg Central Station
Nürnberg Hauptbahnhof
Nuremberg Central Station is the main railway station for the city of Nuremberg in Germany. It is the largest station in north Bavaria and belongs to the 20 stations in the highest category of importance allocated by DB Station&Service....
.
Since 2008, Nuremberg has had the first U-Bahn in Germany (U3) that works without a driver. It also is the first subway system worldwide in which both driver-operated trains and computer-controlled trains share tracks.
Football
1. FC Nuremberg, known locally as Der Club, was founded in 1900 and plays in the BundesligaFußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
. The official colours of the association are red and white, but the traditional colours are red and black. The current chairmen are Martin Bader and Ralf Woy. They play in the EasyCredit Stadium
Frankenstadion
The Frankenstadion is a stadium in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany, which was opened in 1928. It is located next to the Zeppelinfeld. It also neighbors the new Nuremberg Arena....
, which was refurbished for the World Cup in 2006
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
and accommodates 48,553 spectators.
- German Champion: 1920, 1921, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1936, 1948, 1961, 1968
- German Cup: 1935, 1939, 1962, 2007
Twin towns / Sister cities
Nuremberg is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, since 1954 Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, since 1979 Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, since 1982 Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
since 1985 San Carlos
San Carlos, Río San Juan
San Carlos is the capital city of the municipality of San Carlos and of the Río San Juan Department of Nicaragua. The city proper has a population of roughly 12,174, while the city and surrounding communities contain 37,461 as of 2005. San Carlos is positioned on the confluence of Lake Nicaragua...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, since 1985 Gera
Gera
Gera, the third-largest city in the German state of Thuringia , lies in east Thuringia on the river Weiße Elster, approximately 60 kilometres to the south of the city of Leipzig and 80 kilometres to the east of Erfurt...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, since 1988, renewed 1997 Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, since 1990 Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, since 1990 Hadera
Hadera
Hadera is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel approximately from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along of the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, since 1995 Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
since 1997 Antalya
Antalya
Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, since 1997 Kavala
Kavala
Kavala , is the second largest city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala peripheral unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, since 1998 Atlanta, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, since 1998 Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, since 1999
Partner cities
Apart from the official twin towns (sister cities), there are a number with which Nuremberg maintains "cordial relations":Klausen / Chiusa, Italy 1970 Kalkudah
Kalkudah
Kalkudah or Kalkuda is a coastal resort town located about 35 kilometers northwest of Batticaloa, Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. It used to be a popular tourist destination, however due to 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami and Sri Lankan Civil War tourist numbers have declined...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
2005 Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
, Italy 2006 Kronstadt
Kronstadt
Kronstadt , also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt |crown]]" and Stadt for "city"); is a municipal town in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on Kotlin Island, west of Saint Petersburg proper near the head of the Gulf of Finland. Population: It is also...
/Brasov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
2006 Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, Italy 2006 Bar
Bar, Montenegro
Bar is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has a population of 17,727...
, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
2006 Cordoba
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
2008
There is also economic co-operation with other regions or towns, such as: Changping
Changping Town
Changping town is a town within the prefecture-level city of Dongguan, in Guangdong province, southern China. The town has a total area of 108 km² and has a population of 500,000.-Transportation:...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
2006
Famous residents
- Peter AngermannPeter AngermannPeter Angermann is a German painter based in Nuremberg.-Education and Career:He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg and at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and was a student of Joseph Beuys....
- Chaya ArbelChaya ArbelChaya Arbel was an Israeli composer. She is one of Israel's best known female classical composers and the recipient of the ACUM Prize.-Biography:...
(Israeli composer) - Heinz BernardHeinz BernardHeinz Bernard was a British actor and director and theatre manager. Of Jewish origin, he also lived and worked in Israel from 1971 - 1981...
(British Israeli actor-director) - Ernst von BibraErnst von BibraDr. Ernst Freiherr von Bibra was a German Naturalist and author...
- Peter BucherPeter BucherPeter Bucher is a former West German handball player who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics.In 1972 he was part of the West German team which finished sixth in the Olympic tournament. He played all six matches and scored twenty goals....
- Albrecht DürerAlbrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
(painter and engraver) - Heinrich EgersdörferHeinrich EgersdörferHeinrich "Heiner" Egersdörfer , was a German-born artist, illustrator and cartoonist who settled in South Africa....
(artist) - Ludwig Andreas FeuerbachLudwig Andreas FeuerbachLudwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher and anthropologist. He was the fourth son of the eminent jurist Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, brother of mathematician Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach and uncle of painter Anselm Feuerbach...
- Kaspar HauserKaspar HauserKaspar Hauser was a German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. Hauser's claims, and his subsequent death by stabbing, sparked much debate and controversy....
- Peter HenleinPeter HenleinPeter Henlein , a locksmith and watchmaker from Nuremberg, is often considered the inventor of the portable timekeeper, making him the inventor of the watch, but this claim is disputed...
- Augustin HirschvogelAugustin HirschvogelAugustin Hirschvogel was a German artist, mathematician, and cartographer known primarily for his etchings. His thirty-five small landscape etchings, made between 1545 and 1549, assured him a place in the Danube School, a circle of artists in sixteenth-century Bavaria and Austria.- Life :He began...
- Siegfried JerusalemSiegfried JerusalemSiegfried Jerusalem is a German operatic tenor. Closely identified with the heldentenor roles of Wagner, he has performed Siegfried, Siegmund, Lohengrin, Parsifal and Tristan to wide acclaim...
(operatic tenor) - Hermann KestenHermann Kesten MedalThe Hermann Kesten Medal , named after Hermann Kesten , is a prize awarded annually for outstanding efforts in support of persecuted writers according to the principles of the Charter of International P.E.N. In 1985, the P.E.N...
(writer) - Anton KobergerAnton KobergerAnton Koberger was the German goldsmith, printer and publisher who printed and published the Nuremberg Chronicle, a landmark of incunabula, and was a successful bookseller of works from other printers...
- Eliyahu Koren, graphic designer
- Adam KraftAdam KraftAdam Kraft was a German stone sculptor and master builder of the late Gothic period, based in Nuremberg and with a documented career there from 1490...
(sculptor and architect) - Katerina LemmelKaterina LemmelKaterina Lemmel, née Imhoff was a successful patrician businesswoman in Nuremberg who became a Birgittine nun at the monastery of Maria Mai in Maihingen in Nördlinger Ries...
(businesswoman, patron of the arts, Birgittine nun) - Kunz LochnerKunz LochnerKunz Lochner was a master armourer from Nuremberg, Germany....
- Max MorlockMax MorlockMaximilian Morlock was one of the most popular German football players in the 1950s and early 1960s. In his time with the West German national team, he earned 26 caps and scored 21 goals...
- Johann PachelbelJohann PachelbelJohann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
(Baroque composer) - Conrad PaumannConrad PaumannConrad Paumann was a German organist, lutenist and composer of the early Renaissance. Even though he was born blind, he was one of the most talented musicians of the 15th century, and his performances created a sensation wherever he went...
- Hans SachsHans SachsHans Sachs was a German meistersinger , poet, playwright and shoemaker.-Biography:Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg . His father was a tailor. He attended Latin school in Nuremberg...
(Poet) - Hartmann SchedelHartmann SchedelHartmann Schedel was a German physician, humanist, historian, and one of the first cartographers to use the printing press. He was born in Nuremberg...
- Alexander SchreinerAlexander SchreinerAlexander Schreiner was one of the most noted organists of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. He also wrote the music to several LDS hymns, several of which are in the current edition of the hymn book of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .-Early life:Alexander Ferdinand Schreiner was born on...
organist, Mormon Tabernacle - Veit StossVeit StossVeit Stoss was a leading Bavarian sculptor, mostly in wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque"...
(Renaissance sculptor) - Peter Vischer the ElderPeter Vischer the ElderPeter Vischer the Elder was a German sculptor, the son of Hermann Vischer, and the most famous member of the noted Vischer Family of Nuremberg....
- Johann Christoph VolckamerJohann Christoph VolkamerJohann Christoph Volkamer was a German merchant, manufacturer and botanist.-Life:Johann Christoph Volkamer was the son of the physician Johann George Volkamer. He was occupied by hobby with the botany and maintained a garden in the today's Nurembergian Gostenhof district...
who authored here his Hesperides. - Arnold Hans WeissArnold Hans WeissArnold Hans Weiss was a German-born American soldier during World War II who began the investigation that led to the discovery of Adolf Hitler's last will and testament.-Biography:...
(US Army investigator who helped find Hitler's will) - Michael WolgemutMichael WolgemutMichael Wolgemut was a German painter and printmaker, born in Nuremberg.-Biography:Little is known of Wolgemut's private life...
- Johann Philipp von WurzelbauerJohann Philipp von WurzelbauerJohann Philipp von Wurzelbauer was a German astronomer.-Biography:...
- Willibald PirckheimerWillibald PirckheimerWillibald Pirckheimer was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, and a member of the governing City Council for two periods...
humanist
See also
- Nürnberger Bratwürste (Nuremberg sausage)
- Academy of Fine Arts NurembergAcademy of Fine Arts NurembergThe Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg The art academy is situated in Nuremberg.In the classes for fine arts, sculpture, visual arts, painting, artistic concepts, art education, gold- and silversmithing, as well as graphic design, the professors and students carry out candid discussions...
- List of mayors of Nuremberg
- NorisringNorisringThe Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, on the former Nazi party rally grounds site of the NSDAP party conventions. As the city's German name Nürnberg would lead to confusion with the already famous Nürburgring, the old name Noris was chosen for the simple track which is nowadays approx...
Racetrack, where Pedro RodriguezPedro Rodriguez (racing driver)Pedro Rodríguez was a Mexican Grand Prix motor racing driver. He was born in Mexico City and was the older brother of Ricardo Rodríguez.-Career:...
died in 1971 - Germanisches NationalmuseumGermanisches NationalmuseumThe Germanisches Nationalmuseum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day...
- Neues Museum NürnbergNeues Museum NürnbergNeues Museum Nürnberg is a museum for modern and contemporary art and design in Nuremberg, Germany. It was opened in April 2000....
- Kunsthalle NürnbergKunsthalle NürnbergThe Kunsthalle Nürnberg is an art centre founded in 1967, near the city centre. It hosts exhibitions by contemporary international artists in Nuremberg...
- Nuremberg Toy MuseumNuremberg Toy MuseumThe Toy Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Bavaria. Located in a city famous for its toy-makers, it was founded in 1971, and is based on the toy collection of Lydia and Paul Bayer....
("Spielzeugmuseum") - Nuremberg U-BahnNuremberg U-BahnThe Nuremberg U-Bahn is a metro run by VAG Nürnberg , which itself is a member of the VGN . The Nuremberg U-Bahn is Germany's newest metro...
Nuremberg Underground railway - TinselTinselTinsel is sparkling decorative material that mimics the effect of ice or icicles. When in long narrow strips, it emulates icicles. It was originally a metallic garland for Christmas decoration. The modern production of tinsel typically involves plastic, and is used particularly to decorate...
(invented in Nuremberg) - Triumph of the WillTriumph of the WillTriumph of the Will is a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than 700,000 Nazi supporters. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of...
of Leni RiefenstahlLeni RiefenstahlHelene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress and dancer widely noted for her aesthetics and innovations as a filmmaker. Her most famous film was Triumph des Willens , a propaganda film made at the 1934 Nuremberg congress of the Nazi Party...
External links
- English website of the city
- 49 digitised objects on Nuremberg in The European LibraryEuropean LibraryThe European Library is an Internet service that allows access to the resources of 48 European national libraries. Searching is free and delivers metadata records as well as digital objects...