11 Best Sights in Nurnberg (Nuremberg), Franconia and the German Danube

Perhaps the most famous Christmas Market in Germany, the Nürnberg Christkindlesmarkt sits on the town's cobblestone main square beneath the wonderful Frauenkirche. Renowned for its food, particularly Nürnberger Bratwurstchen, tasty little pork and marjoram sausages, and Lebkuchen, gingerbread made with cinnamon and honey, the market is also famed for its little figures made out of prunes called Nürnberger Zwetschgenmännla (Nuremberg Prune People).

You could spend a lifetime exploring the largest and greatest ethnological museum in Germany. This vast museum showcases the country's cultural and scientific achievements, ethnic background, and history. Housed in a former Carthusian monastery, complete with cloisters and monastic outbuilding, the complex effectively melds the ancient with modern extensions, giving the impression that Germany is moving forward by examining its past. The exhibition begins outside, with the tall, sleek pillars of the Strasse der Menschenrechte (Street of Human Rights), designed by Israeli artist Dani Karavan. Thirty columns are inscribed with the articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. There are few aspects of German culture, from the Stone Age to the 19th century, that are not covered by the museum, and quantity and quality are evenly matched. One highlight is the superb collection of Renaissance German paintings (with Dürer, Cranach, and Altdorfer well represented). Others may prefer the exquisite medieval ecclesiastical exhibits—manuscripts, altarpieces, statuary, stained glass, jewel-encrusted reliquaries—the collections of arms and armor, the scientific instruments, or the toys.

The city's main attraction is a grand yet playful collection of buildings standing just inside the city walls; it was once the residence of the Holy Roman Emperor. It is difficult to imagine that in 1945 almost the entire structure was reduced to rubble. The complex comprises three separate groups of buildings. The oldest, dating from around 1050, is the Burggrafenburg (Castellan's Castle), with a craggy old pentagonal tower and the bailiff's house. It stands in the center of the complex. To the east is the Kaiserstallung (Imperial Stables), built in the 15th century as a granary and is now a youth hostel. The real interest of this vast complex of ancient buildings, however, centers on the westernmost part of the fortress, which begins at the Sinwell Turm (Sinwell Tower). The Kaiserburg Museum is here, a subsidiary of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum that displays ancient armors and has exhibits relating to horsemanship in the imperial era and to the history of the fortress. This section of the castle also has a wonderful Romanesque Doppelkappelle (Double Chapel). The upper part—richer, larger, and more ornate than the lower chapel—was where the emperor and his family worshipped. Also, visit the Rittersaal (Knights' Hall) and the Kaisersaal (Throne Room). Since this section of the fortress survived the war, the heavy oak beams, painted ceilings, and sparse interiors have changed little since they were built in the 15th century.

The great painter Albrecht Dürer lived here from 1509 until his death in 1528. His beautifully preserved late-medieval house is typical of the prosperous merchants' homes that once filled Nuremberg. Dürer, who enriched German art with Renaissance elements, was more than a painter. He raised the woodcut, a notoriously difficult medium, to new heights of technical sophistication, combining great skill with a haunting, immensely detailed drawing style and complex, allegorical subject matter. A number of original prints adorn the walls, and printing techniques using the old press are demonstrated in the studio. An excellent opportunity to find out about life in the house of Dürer is the tour with a guide role-playing Agnes Dürer, the artist's wife.

Bombing destroyed the original City Hall, completed in 1332, on Rathausplatz in 1944.  The post-war reconstruction incorporates the intact medieval dungeons, consisting of 12 small rooms and one large torture chamber. The Lochgefängnis (the Hole), shows the gruesome applications of medieval law. Gänsemännchenbrunnen (Gooseman's Fountain) faces the Altes Rathaus. This lovely Renaissance bronze fountain, cast in 1550, is a work of rare elegance and great technical sophistication.

On the eastern outskirts of the city, the Ausstellung Faszination und Gewalt (Fascination and Terror Exhibition) documents the political, social, and architectural history of the Nazi Party. The sobering museum helps illuminate the whys and hows of Hitler's rise to power during the unstable period after World War I and the end of the democratic Weimar Republic. This is one of the few museums that documents how the Third Reich's propaganda machine influenced the masses. The 19-room exhibition is inside a horseshoe-shape Congress Hall, designed for a crowd of 50,000, that the Nazis never completed. The Nazis did make infamous use of the nearby Zeppelin Field, the enormous parade ground where Hitler addressed his largest Nazi Party rallies. Today it sometimes shakes to the amplified beat of pop concerts. The Zeppelin Field is freely accessible to the public and 12 information points give a detailed history of the area. To get to the Documentation Center, take Tram 9 from the city center to the Doku-Zentrum stop. The Documentation Center is being remodeled. There is a temporary exhibit open until construction is complete in 2025. The temporary exhibit is the only part of the building that is open. Car parking is extremely limited.

Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV commissioned the late-Gothic Frauenkirche in 1350, and it was built on the site of a synagogue that burned to the ground during the 1349 pogrom. The modern tabernacle, completed in 1991, beneath the main altar was designed to look like a Torah scroll as a memorial to that despicable act. The church's main attraction is the Männleinlaufen, a clock dating from 1509, which is set into its facade. The clock is one of those colorful mechanical marvels at which Germans have long excelled; Every day at noon the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire glide out of the clock to bow to Emperor Charles IV before sliding back undercover. It's worth scheduling your morning to catch the display.

Nuremberg's central market square was once the city's Jewish Quarter. In 1349, Emperor Charles IV instigated a pogrom that left the Jewish Quarter in flames and more than 500 dead. He razed the ruins and resettled the remaining Jews so he could build this square. Towering over the northwestern corner, Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) looks as though it should be on the summit of some lofty cathedral. Carved around the year 1400, the elegant 60-foot-high Gothic fountain is adorned with 40 figures arranged in tiers—prophets, saints, local noblemen, electors, Julius Caesar, and Alexander the Great. A golden ring set into the railing is said to bring good luck to those who touch it. A market still operates here on weekdays. Its colorful stands are piled high with produce, fruit, bread, homemade cheeses and sausages, sweets, and anything else you might need for a snack or picnic. The Markt is also the site of the famous Christkindlesmarkt.

Anything but medieval, this museum is devoted to international design since 1945. The collection, supplemented by changing exhibitions, is in a slick, modern edifice that achieves the perfect synthesis between old and new. It's mostly built of traditional pink-sandstone ashlars, while the facade is a flowing, transparent composition of glass. The interior is a work of art in itself—cool stone, with a ramp that slowly spirals up to the gallery. Extraordinary things await, including a Joseph Beuys installation (Ausfegen, or Sweep-out) and Avalanche by François Morellet, a striking collection of violet, argon-gas-filled fluorescent tubes. The café-restaurant adjoining the museum contains modern art, silver-wrapped candies, and video projections.

The victorious Allies put Nazi leaders and German organizations on trial here in 1945 and 1946 as part of the first International War Crimes Tribunal. The trials took place in the Landgericht (Regional Court) in courtroom No. 600 and resulted in 11 death sentences, among other convictions. The actual courtroom is no longer in use but can close for special events. Guided tours in English by special request only.

In a city with several striking churches, St. Lorenz is considered by many to be the most beautiful. Construction began around 1250 and was completed in about 1477; it later became a Lutheran church. Two towers flank the main entrance, which is covered with a forest of carvings. In the lofty interior, note the works by sculptors Adam Kraft and Veit Stoss: Kraft's great stone tabernacle, to the left of the altar, and Stoss's Annunciation, at the east end of the nave, are their finest works. There are many other carvings throughout the building, testimony to the artistic wealth of late-medieval Nuremberg.