Festung Rosenberg (Rosenberg Fortress)

Festung Rosenberg (Rosenberg Fortress) Review

This fortress is a few minutes' walk from the town center. As you stand below its mighty walls it's easy to see why it was never taken by enemy forces. During World War I it served as a POW camp, with no less a figure than Charles de Gaulle as a "guest." Today Rosenberg houses a youth hostel and, more importantly, the Fränkische Galerie (Franconian Gallery), an extension of the Bavarian National Museum in Munich, featuring paintings and sculpted works from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Lucas Cranach the Elder and Tilman Riemenschneider are represented, as well as artists from the Dürer School and the Bamberg School. In July and August the central courtyard is an atmospheric backdrop for performances of Goethe's Faust. The grounds of the fortress are also used by wood sculptors in summer.