Nördlingen, a city in the Danube-Ries district of the Swabian administrative district in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany, is a walled city protected by a circular wall that retains a strong medieval atmosphere.
A meteorite with a diameter of 1.5 km that fell about 15 million years ago created a huge crater with a diameter of 24 km called the Nördlinger Ries. The city of Nördlingen was founded 6 km southwest of the center of the crater, which became a basin.
In medieval Germany, many castle walls were built to protect cities.
You can walk along the top of Nördlingen’s castle walls and it takes about an hour to complete the whole circuit.
The city is said to have been the model for “Attack on Titan” because it is surrounded by castle walls.
In 1215, Nördlingen was granted city rights by Emperor Frederick II and became a free imperial city. It is said that the circular city wall surrounding the city was built at this time. Although most of the city was destroyed in a large fire in 1238, it was rebuilt, and the city wall that remains today was built in 1327.
Between 1618 and 1648, the international religious war known as the Thirty Years’ War broke out in the Holy Roman Empire. The turning point in history during the Thirty Years’ War is said to have been the Siege of Nördlingen, in which the loser, Nördlingen, had to open its gates to the victors.
After the war, trade began to take place in port cities, and Nördlingen lost its function as a trading center. The stagnation of this period is said to be the reason why the medieval landscape has remained to the present day.
The city walls surrounding the city of Nördlingen. Built in 1327, the city walls have been almost perfectly preserved. The inner passages of the city walls are also accessible and can be walked through.
Red-roofed houses line the circular city walls. The city walls have five gates, and inside there are 11 towers and two bastions (camps built with stone, earth, concrete, etc. to prevent enemy attacks).
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