Stuttgart Stories

28/11/2021

We're back! Work commitments interrupted our regular does of Stuttgart-area coolness.

Today we take you to the MARTINSKIRCHE in NECKARTAILFINGEN. Built in the 12th century, the Romanesque church is distinguished for two reasons: the tower is quite crooked (seriously, you'll see it coming into town) and the place is full of medieval wall paintings showing the lives of the saints and Bible stories. It's truly a gorgeous local treasure, and very atmospheric.

DIRECTIONS: Schulberg 10, 72666 in your GPS will get you there. The 188 bus from Nürtingen train station will also get you there.

17/10/2021

HERRENBERG, on the S-Bahn line to Böblingen is a town well worth a visit. Founded in the 12th century, it's a very well-preserved medieval city with churches, ecclesiastical buildings and merchant's houses.

It's also a town that's endured a lot. Besieged on multiple occasions, ransacked by peasant armies during the 'Bauernkrieg', and stricken by plague a number of times, it hasn't caught much of a break. However, it was never fully destroyed, and maybe that's why it was spared a complete rebuild that would change the character of the city.

Highlights include the castle ruins on the hilltop, the huge Stiftskirche that dominates the town, the bell museum, and the well-preserved town centre.

Directions: Herrenberg is the last stop on the S1 S-Bahn line. It is also readily accessible by road by the A831 and B14.

13/10/2021

Wanna hear a spooky local story? Here's one of a few I'll tell this October.

On October 5, 1600, the Obervogt, or local bailiff of Schorndorf, Jakob von Validlingen had finished a long day of hearing cases in the town of Gerardstetten. As it happened, he ran into his friend, local noble Konrad von Degenfeld, who had been attending a wedding in the area.

As friends do they decided to go for a drink - or several. After a night of carousing at a local Inn, both Jakob and Konrad decided to go to bed.

As he did every night, Konrad placed his sword in another room, and ensured that he had room to himself. You see, Jakob had been a soldier, and had suffered a head injury in the past. Whether as a result of that, or what we'd call PTSD today, he was prone to fits of rage when startled. He knew this, and he took good care.

Unfortunately, that evening, a series of events conspired to cause tragedy. The first was that a rapier had been left in Jakob's room. The second was that Konrad experienced a bout of sleepwalking - something he was prone to.

As a consequence, when Konrad staggered into Jakob's room, wrapped in his bedsheet, Jakob panicked. Acting on instinct, he grabbed for something - anything - and drove it into Konrad when he didn't respond.

Konrad died instantly.

Jakob was imprisoned, and expected to be brought to trial. As a noble, he was certainly due that. However, in this case, that didn't happen. Instead, within days of the incident, Jakob's priest informed him that Friedrich, Duke of Würrttemberg, had ordered his immediate ex*****on. Some say that Konrad's relatives at the court had pressured the Duke to order this. It was a massive breach of judicial standards, even for the time.

On October 15, 1600, Jakob was led to the marketplace in Waiblingen and beheaded by a swordsman. His story became the subject of a popular ballad, and there's a beautiful memorial to him in the church at Deufringen, his ancestral home. By all accounts, many praised his ability to accept the punishment, and his dignity in the face of death.

That said, to this day, it is claimed that Jakob's castle at Deufringen is still haunted by his ghost - sometimes complete, sometimes without his head. Considering the castle is used by the local village as an administrative centre, there's a lot of locals with stories to tell!

08/10/2021

Today we travel to the HOHENASPERG, just outside ASPERG, near LUDWIGSBURG. Originally a holy place to the Celt tribes who lived in the region, almost all of their remaining gravemounds in the region are aligned towards the large hill, paying a form of tribute.

In the middle ages, the Franks had a small king's palace there, and a village grew up around it. In the 16th century, the Duchy of Württemberg turned it into a fortress and then a prison. From that point onwards it has been the site of imprisonment for dissidents, traitors, criminal and all those who earned the scorn of the reigning Duke. Look up the stories of Josef ''Süß' Oppenheimer and Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart,for a taste of these terrible times. in the N**i era, it was used to hold opponents of the regime.

Today, the Hohenasperg is the high-security prison for the criminally insane in Baden-Württemberg, but there is a large museum, charting the history of the place. Highly recommended!

Directions: Hohenasperg 1, 71679 in your GPS will get you there. The nearest S-Bahn station is Asperg, a 20 minute walk away.

06/10/2021

Today (and the next entry or so) will take us to nearby ROTTENBURG AM NECKAR - or should we say, SUMELOCENNA! At the time of the Roman Empire, this land was part of the Roman province of Germania Major. As such, it was settled, and a thriving community stood where the town of Rottenburg sits today. It lasted until the fourth century, when it was deserted in the face of tribal incursions as the Western Empire fell.

A few years ago, as the city was building a new carpark, a ROMAN BATH COMPLEX was exposed, showing just what a sophisticated, comfortable place Rottenburg could have been, even way back then. The city has now turned it into a museum, where you can not only learn about Roman bathing traditions, but what life would have been like in Roman Germany - not just for the legions, but for settlers, and the Suebi tribes who adopted their way of life.

Directions: Stadtgraben, 72108 in your GPS wl get you there. Rottenburg am Neckar Bahnhof is a ten minute walk away. €2,50 entry fee, children under six free.

04/10/2021

Today, we have a regional treasure - and rightly so. BURG TECK near OWEN, BISSINGEN and DETTINGEN is a place of history and mystery.

Originally a site of power and magic to early Celt tribes, the Teckberg has had numerous finds discovered on it.

With the arrival of the Middle Ages, it become a stronghold of the Teck, an offshoot of the Zähringer family. When they died out in the 15th century, it became property of the Dukes of Württemberg.

In 1525 the castle was destroyed by peasant armies during the 'Bauernkrieg' and left in ruins until the 18th century, when the Dukes of Württemberg began to build a fortress... until the money ran out.

In the 20th century, it was used as a location for N**i celebrations (some with decidedly pagan overtones) before the place was turned into a kind of youth hostel and restaurant by the Schwäbische Albverein.

Below the castle (about 50m by path) sits the SIBYLLENHÖHLE. This was supposedly the home of a wise woman who would tell anyone who claimed up the hill their future. It goes in about 30 metres, and when it was excavated, thousands of ice age animal bones were recovered.

Needless to say, the views up top are *spectacular*.

Directions: 73266 Bissingen should get you to the Hörnle carpark, where there's a 25 minute walk up to the castle - suitable for strollers. There are also walking paths from Dettingen and Owen Bahnhofs.

01/10/2021

This weekend, why not check out BURGRUINE WEIBERTREU, near WEINSBERG, just outside of HEILBRONN.

This 12th century castle is known for two famous historical events, one slightly misted in fable, one very, very real.

On December 21, 1140, the Guelph forces of castle surrendered to the Staufers, who had been besieging it - this was part of a very complex, very long medieval 'gamg war', that makes 'Game of Thrones' look simple.

King Konrad III, in a moment of mercy, informed the women of the castle that they could leave with whatever they could carry. The men would be executed.

What did the women do, it is said? They carried the men down the hill, saving their lives!

'The faithful wives of Weinsberg' subsequently entered German folklore.

The other story isn't so whimsical. On April 16, 1525, the guards of the city let a peasant army enter the city, during the 'Bauernkrieg', or German Peasant's War.

Ludwig von Helfenstein-Wiesensteig, the local lord - who had a cruel reputation - was disarmed and taken with his men to the hillside, where they were forced to run a gauntlet until they were impaled.

This event shocked the entire German lands, and helped turned sentiment against the peasant armies.

Directions: Am Grasigen Hag, 74189 in your GPS will get you there. The S4 from Heilbronn Hbf will get you there too. The walk from the station to the castle ruin Is about 20 minutes.

01/10/2021

The online component of Stuttgart Stories will *always* be free.

However, if you'd like to support the page, and help Mike, the author, tell more stories in different ways, you can always buy us a coffee!

https://ko-fi.com/mikestuchbery

30/09/2021

Have you made your way to Schwäbisch Hall yet? This medieval city seems to have a story hidden down every alley...

(Republished The Local Germany from 2019)

This charming city in Baden-Württemberg remains off the trodden tourist path - despite an over a thousand-year old history as a hub of trade, and remaining largely unscathed over the centuries.

29/09/2021

Today's Stuttgart secret is the tiny monastery, KLISTER DENKENDORF, in DENKENDORF.

This monastery was established in the 11th century after the local lord went on crusade and returned. In the crypt, a replica of the empty grave of Jesus was built. This made the site a very powerful site of pilgrimage in the region. As a consequence, the Romanesque church was beautifully decorated with stone carving, even when it had to be rebuilt during the 14th century war between Swabian cities.

The monastery managed to survive the Reformation, like many other, by becoming a boy's school. Now it's a training centre and seminary.

Be sure to explore the grounds, and enjoy yhe peaceful monastery pond.

Directions: Klosterhof 8, 73770 in your GPS will get you there. The 119 and 120 bus from Ostfildern Nellingen UBahn will get you within 650m of the monastery.

28/09/2021

Today's treasure literally contains a cabinet of wonders. The Landesmuseum Württemberg has just reopened at the ALTES SCHLOSS, and a lot has been refurbished.

This museum contains over 40,000 years of history, and you can see such wonders as:

* The mask of the 'Steer of Isfeld', a notorious brigand.
* The barrel that miscreants were forced into in the Schwäbisch Gmünd as punishment.
* An Alamannic sword with one of the few depictions of a man in a berzerker state.
* A very rude Roman statue.
..and that's just the beginning.

Make sure to check out the 'Wunderkammer', or 'Chamber of Wonders' that is filled with all the strange and wonderful trinkets that the Dukes and Kings of Württemberg gathered over the centuries.

Directions: The nearest UBahn stop is Schlossplatz. You can't miss it from there. Old castle.

23/09/2021

Today's pick is something a little less spectacular than a castle or monastery, but no less moving.

The LABYRINTH at the NELLINGEN KLOSTERHOF was created by the women of Nellingen back in 1992, in the former monastery garden at Nellingen.

Surrounded by medieval monastery walls, and somewhat separated from the outside world around it, it's a peaceful calm place to just sit and contemplate.

It's not out of place either. In the middle ages, labyrinths were a means to go on a mini-pilgrimage - you'd walk meditatively and pray.

Sometimes you'll find little offerings and decorations left by locals. It's a modern-day sacred site.

Directions: Klosterhof 12, 73760 in your GPS will get you there. Nearest Ubahn is Ostfildern-Nellingen, about a 10 minute walk away.