BAMBERG, BAVARIA, GERMANY

BAMBERG, CITY HALL.

Recently we visited a most beautiful and interesting town in Bavaria, Germany.
It features many important ancient buildings: Cathedrals, Castles and
other architecturally interesting  edifices.
One of the most fascinating structures is "The Old City Hall".
In the early 14th Century, the citizens of Bamberg wanted to have
their own secular government and to house it, a proper City Hall.
All of the land, however, was owned by the Catholic Church
and the Bishop of the area, refused to allow the erection of such a building,
as it would house a competitive power structure to his own
hitherto unchallenged Dictatorship.
Although the Bishop owned all of the land, he and the Church did not own
the River, Regnitz, by name, nor the Island located in the middle of the town.
So the Burghers of Bamberg  built their "Rathaus" (City Hall)
on this island and connected it with two bridges to the mainland.
The original structure was finished in 1386. What we see today
is the Rathaus as it was rebuilt between 1744 and 1756 

 

Beautiful homes along the banks of the river Regnitz.
Due to their rising right out of the river,
this area is called: Little Venice.
On the river side each house owns a boat, but on the other side
cars are a more preferred mode of transportation.