BAD WIMPFEN
Medieval Imperial Town on the Neckar River
Bad Wimpfen is a lovely historic spa and tourist town on the Neckar River near the city of Heilbronn in the Baden-Württemberg region of southern Germany. The first settlement goes back to the Celts and Romans, but the town is perhaps best known for its association with the Staufer kings of the middle ages, the Hohenstaufen dynasty of Swabian monarchs who reigned as Holy Roman Emperors from 1138 to 1254.
The most famous of the staufers, Frederick Barbarossa, reportedly headquartered in the town in 1182. In the high middle-ages the Staufers lords had castles built to control their land holdings of imperial jurisdictions, Kaiserpfalzen. Bad Wimpfen lies in heart of the scenic historic route of the German castle road (Burgenstrasse), with a number of castles found along the Neckar in this beautiful rustic region (see Castle Guttenberg and Castle Hornberg). The Kaiserburg fortress of Wimpfen, the largest north of the Alps, was built on a rocky hill standing above the settlement along the river bank.
The old medieval town is well preserved with the remnants of the imperial fortress, which once capped the town are the Blue Tower (Blauer Turm) and the Red Tower (Roter Turm), which served as guard towers for 650 years. The Blue Tower is open to visitors and offers panoramic views over the Neckar Valley. A former Dominican monastery church, the Dominikanerkirche, built beginning in the 13th century stands in the heart of the old town in Romanesque style with later Gothic additions, not completed until the 1700s. Next to the church is a magnificent Calvary statuary garden by sculptor Hans Backoffen. The former Johanneskirche first built in the 15th Century and rebuilt in the 18th Century was nearly destroyed by a fire in 1851 and is now a restaurant. A number of medieval buildings remain standing as the town survived WWII virtually unscathed. Emperor Friedrich III gave the right to hold a second annual market, called the Katharinenmarkt. This second market which took place during advent before Christmas became today's Christmas Market still held annually.
The lower town offers shopping, charming cafes and wine sellers, with a wealth of traditional festivals, concerts and exhibitions, arts and theatre offered through-out the year. The salt spas from which Bad Wimpfen got its “bad” designation in the 1800’s written about by Mark Twain in 1865 (see Mark Twain in Heidelberg) still attract visitors. In the summer season visitors can take a boat trip on the Neckar River, or a cycling tour through some of Germany’s most beautiful forested hill and wine vineyard country.
Visiting Bad Wimpfen
Take a tour of the town with a guide in historical costume to bring the past to life, led through the narrow alleys to visit historical buildings such as the Palace Arcades and Chapel, the towers and town gates. Explore the Historical Museum, the Reichsstädtisches (Free City of the Holy Roman Empire) Museum, and the Museum of Ecclesiastical History inside the Staufen Palace Chapel. The "Lucky Pig" museum is amusing with over 14 000 exhibits of of collector’s oddities devoted to pigs. The remarkable and fun Technik Museum of Sinsheim (see Sinsheim Technik Museum) is a 15 minute drive and Heidelberg about 40 minutes. © Bargain
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Bad Wimpfen
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See Also:
SCHLOSS HIRSCHHORN CASTLE HOTEL
NECKAR RIVER CRUISES - HEIDELBERG
