Ansbach
Attractions
Ansbach - Interior of the synagogue.
Synagoge
Synagogue
The baroque synagogue in Ansbach has been preserved as an architectural monument of high standing. It survived the destruction of the Night of Broken Glass in November 1938 undamaged and is still in its original state at the time of its inauguration. The fact that it is inconspicuously hidden behind a façade with high round-arched windows was the will of Margrave Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, the "Wild Margrave". In 1732, he granted the Jewish community permission to build its own house of prayer, but on condition that it be built in a hidden corner of the city and not be recognizable from the outside as a synagogue.
Today there is no longer a Jewish community in Ansbach. The synagogue can be visited on guided tours and on certain Sundays from May to September. In the adjoining former servants' house, exhibits and information on Ansbach's Jewish community and Judaism in general are on display.
Synagoge
Rosenbadstraße 3
91522 Ansbach
www.ansbach.de
Ansbach - Saint Gumbertus-Church.
Sankt Gumbertus-Kirche
Saint Gumbertus-Church
The former court and collegiate church of the margraves with its three towers dominates the image of the city. The interior of the baroque hall church with its Gothic extensions documents its history. The epitaphs and shields of the dead in the Swan Knights Chapel remind of the Order of Swan Knights founded by Albrecht Achilles. The most valuable work of art in the museum room is the "Kelterbild" from the school of Albrecht Dürer.
Beneath the Swan Knights' Chapel is the tomb of the margraves with 25 sarcophagi, including the coffin of Friederike Luise of Prussia, the sister of Frederick the Great, who was married to the Ansbach margrave Carl Wilhelm Friedrich.
Sankt Gumbertus-Kirche
Gumbertusplatz 1
91522 Ansbach
www.ansbach.de
Ansbach - Kaspar Hauser memorial.
Kaspar-Hauser-Denkmal
Kaspar Hauser Monument
The Kaspar Hauser Monument consists of two bronze figures: one shows the famous foundling in the form in which he appeared in Nuremberg in 1828, the other depicts him as a young nobleman and official clerk who was murdered in Ansbach in 1833. The monument was created by the Berchtesgaden artist Friedrich Schelle, according to a preliminary design by Professor Waldemar Fritsch.
In addition to these sculptures, a memorial stone at the site of his murder in the Hofgarten, a section in the Margrave Museum and his grave with the inscription "Here lies Kaspar Hauser, a riddle of his time, birth unknown, the circumstances of his death mysterious" recall his fate. Since 1998 the Kaspar Hauser Festival has been held every two years.
Kaspar-Hauser-Denkmal
Platenstraße 18
91522 Ansbach
www.ansbach.de
Ansbach - Town Gate "Herrieder Tor".
Herrieder Tor
Herrieden Gate
The Herrieder Tor, named after the village of Herrieden about 10 kilometres away, is the representative entrance to Ansbach's old town. The melody of the Hohenfriedberger March can be heard daily at 11 and 17 o'clock from the carillon on the north side, the text of which is marked with the words "Auf, Ansbach-Dragoner! Auf, Ansbach-Bayreuth" and reminds of the victory of the Prussians in the battle of Hohenfriedberg.
The 47-metre high gate tower in its present form was built in 1750/51 by order of Margrave Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Brandenburg-Ansbach under the margrave's agricultural inspector Johann David Steingruber. Today the tower building is used by local associations.
Herrieder Tor
Uzstraße 30
91522 Ansbach
www.ansbach.de