Germany Guide
Northern Bavaria: Franconia
The Kaiserburg
Opening time: Daily: April– Sept 9am–6pm; Oct– March 10am–4pm
Price: €6
Simultaneously medieval Germany's parliament and its treasure chest, the Kaiserburg lords it over the rooftops of the northern Altstadt. The approach up Burgstrasse takes you past the Kaiserstallung and left past the Sinwellturm into the Ausserer Burghof; the museum and Palas are grouped around the Innerer Burghof beyond. Spared the attentions of Renaissance or Baroque builders who might have prettified or domesticated it, the Kaiserburg is a tough-looking fortress, every inch the medieval strongroom. The Kaiserburg grew over the centuries from the original eleventh-century castle erected by the Frankish Salian kings; of their complex, only the Fünfeckturm on the west side of the Kaiserstallung survives. Admittance to the Palas is by guided tour only, but your ticket includes entry to the museum, whose armoury displays and models of the fortress as it was in 1100 and 1300 will pass the time until your tour departs. Though the Palas represents the Kaiserburg at its most domestic, its staterooms lack any real warmth, for it was never actually a private home. Highlight of the Palas tour is undoubtedly the Romanesque Doppelkapelle of 1180, whose double-height design is deeply symbolic of the social hierarchy of the day, with the emperor at eye level with Christ, lording it physically over his fellow monarchs in the upper chapel, and with lesser fry relegated to the crypt-like lower level. The visit concludes with the unassuming half-timbered building that houses the Tiefer Brunnen, the castle's 47m well, whose very existence was a state secret lest it be tainted by throwing an animal carcass down the shaft. Tour leaders demonstrate its impressive depth by lowering a tray of candles to the bottom and by dropping a carafe of water into it and asking you to count the seconds until the splash – it takes around five seconds. Your ticket is also valid for an ascent of the circular Sinwellturm, worth the climb for the most panoramic of all views of the city. Afterwards, stroll west through the leafy Burggarten to descend to the Altstadt, which you reach at the Neutor.