Spalt

Spalt is located about 30 kilometres southwest of Nuremberg in the middle of the Franconian Lake District with Rothsee, Brombachsee and Altmühlsee lakes. This pretty little town is characterised by its centuries-old tradition of hop growing, which has been documented here for almost 700 years. The region owes the fact that this aromatic hemp plant thrives particularly well in the Spalt hills to its ideal soil and climate conditions. The quality was so outstanding that the Prince-Bishop of Eichstätt, Christoph von Pappenheim, awarded the town the world's first ‘hop seal’ in 1538: it protected and guaranteed the origin and quality of Spalt aromatic hops. To this day, this ‘green gold’ is exported all over the world and forms the basis for spicy quality beers in the USA and Japan, among other places.

Beer is also brewed in Spalt itself, of course, and – uniquely in Germany – under municipal auspices: the municipal brewery is wholly owned by the citizens of Spalt. The products can be sampled and purchased at the tourist information shop in the HopfenBierGut, which also houses an interactive museum on the history of hop growing and beer production in Spalt that is well worth a visit. 

The importance of hop cultivation – the first written record dates back to 1341 – is also reflected in Spalt's townscape: the half-timbered houses in the old town have up to seven floors, on which the hops were spread out to dry. But there is much more to discover as you stroll through the dreamy alleys: two imposing churches, baroque town houses, gates and towers of the partially preserved city wall, built on or against the so-called half-houses, and last but not least, a monument commemorating Georg Spalatin (1484–1545). The humanist, theologian and reformer, who named himself after his hometown, went down in (church) history as Martin Luther's most understanding advocate – it was he who organised Luther's abduction to Wartburg Castle in 1521.

The town can look back on more than 1,200 years of history: the first monastery, founded by St. Emmeram Abbey in Regensburg, existed here as early as 810 AD. The town itself was first mentioned in a document in 1135; the name ‘Spalt’ is derived from the rugged valley of the Franconian Rezat river. From 1294/5 onwards, Spalt and the surrounding villages belonged to the Diocese of Eichstätt, which led to the town being besieged by Nuremberg troops in 1450 during the First Margrave War. The town commemorates its surprise liberation by Margrave Albrecht Achilles of Ansbach every five years with a large local festival, including medieval camp life. 

In 1802, the Wernfels-Spalt administrative district, and with it Spalt, passed to the Electorate of Bavaria, then briefly to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1803, before finally being incorporated into the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806. In the course of the regional reform in Bavaria in the 1970s, the districts of Großweingarten, Enderndorf, Fünfbronn, Mosbach and Wernfels were incorporated. 

With Lake Brombach, on whose sunny side Enderndorf is located, the town has an attractive leisure and sports area. As a member of the international network of liveable towns ‘cittaslow’, Spalt attaches great importance to quality of life, sustainability, preservation of traditions, regionality and biodiversity – just like the Burgenstraße towns of Schwetzingen and Bad Wimpfen.