Switzerland Guide
Ostschweiz and Liechtenstein
The Old Town
Schaffhausen's beautiful riverside Old Town is crammed full of well-preserved architecture, lending the cobbled streets considerable charm. A good place to begin is the central Fronwagplatz, the town's marketplace during the Middle Ages. Dominating the long square is the Fronwagturm, within which hung the market's massive scales; the clock and astronomical device on the top dates from 1564. Beside it is the distinguished, late-Baroque Herrenstube town house, although the facade of the Zum Steinbock house, 100m west at Oberstadt 16, is even more impressive, covered in stucco Rococo curlicues.
Strolling north on Fronwagplatz, past the square's two medieval fountains – the Metzgerbrunnen (1524), topped by a statue of a Swiss mercenary, and the Mohrenbrunnen (1535), with a Moorish king – you'll come to the Zum Ochsen house at Vorstadt 17, one of the most grandiose in the city. The late-Gothic facade of this former inn was remodelled in 1608 and decorated with striking Renaissance frescoes of classical heroes. The oriel window is especially graceful: it shows, in five panels, a woman embodying each of the senses: holding a mirror (sight), a glove (touch), a flower (smell), a stringed instrument (hearing) and a cake (taste).
North of the Zum Ochsen, a short detour past the frescoes of the Zum Grossen Käfig house at Vorstadt 43, which shows the triumphal parade of the medieval Mongol king Tamerlane, brings you to the northern gate of the city, the Schwabentor. The tower dates from 1370, but on the outer face is a small panel added during renovations in 1933, which shows a boy with a pig under his arm dodging the traffic. The dialect inscription Lappi tue d'Augen uf translates as "Knuckleheads should keep their eyes open" – a reference to the danger of newfangled motorized traffic.