What to See in Nuremberg - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Nuremberg, Germany. The Germanisches National Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The Germanisches National Museum is Germany's largest museum of cultural history. Out of its total holding of some 1.3 million objects, approximately 25,000 are exhibited.

The museum is situated in the south of the historic city center between Kornmarkt and Frauentormauer along the medieval city wall. Its entrance hall is situated on Kartäusergasse which was transformed by the Israeli sculptor Dani Karavan to the Way of Human Rights (German: Straße der Menschenrechte).^[1]

Museum of the artist's life and work. Albrecht Dürer's House is a Nuremberg Fachwerkhaus that was the home of German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer from 1509 to his death in 1528. The House lies in the extreme north-west of Nuremberg's Altstadt, near the Kaiserburg section of the Nuremberg Castle and the Tiergärtnertor of Nuremberg's city walls.

The house was built around 1420. It has five stories; the bottom two have sandstone walls, while the upper stories are timber framed; the entire structure is topped by a half-hip roof. In 1501, it was purchased by Bernhard Walther, a merchant and prominent astronomer. Walther remodeled the house, adding small windows to the roof so that it could function as an observatory. Walther died in 1504, and Dürer purchased the house in 1509.

Since 1871 the Albrecht-Dürer-Haus has been a museum dedicated to Dürer's life and work. In a restoration of 1909, the large dormer on the east-facing roof was replaced. In October 1944, it took significant damage from Allied bombing. It was rebuilt by 1949, but did not reopen as a museum until 1971, Dürer's 500th birthday.

The museum features installations of period furnishings, a re-creation of Dürer's workshop in which visitors can view demonstrations of printmaking techniques, and rotating exhibitions of drawings and prints by Dürer from the City of Nuremberg's Graphic Collection. Visitors can also receive a guided tour of the house from an actress playing Agnes Dürer, the wife of the artist.^[6]

Late-Renaissance stone bridge with views. The Fleisch Bridge or Pegnitz Bridge is a late Renaissance bridge in Nuremberg, Germany. The bridge crosses the river Pegnitz in the center of the old town, linking the districts St. Sebald and St. Lorenz along the axis of the main market. The single-arch bridge was built between 1596 and 1598 and replaced an earlier mixed construction of stone and wood which had been repeatedly destroyed by flood.

The Fleisch Bridge is notable for several technical features that were advanced for its time. These include an unusual large width of 15.3 m, and a clear span of 27 m which made it the largest masonry bridge arch in Germany at the time of its construction. With a rise of only 4.2 m, the arch features a span-to-rise ratio of 6.4 to 1, giving the bridge an almost unprecedented flat profile.

This, however, came at the cost of high lateral thrusts even for a segmental arch bridge. This problem was solved by a particularly innovative construction of the abutments which were built onto 2000 wooden piles, 400 of which were rammed obliquely into the grounds. A very similar arrangement of the abutments had also been implemented slightly earlier at the Rialto bridge, leading to speculations about a technology transfer from Venice, with which Nuremberg shared close trade links. A recent in-depth research, however, stresses the originality of the Fleisch Bridge on grounds of technical differences between the two bridges.

The Fleisch Bridge has practically remained unchanged since the addition of a portal in 1599 and survived World War II almost unscathed. A Latin inscription at the portal reads: Omnia habent ortus suaque in crementa sed ecce quem cernis nunquam bos fuit hic Vitulus. ("All things have a beginning and grow, but the ox upon whom you now look was never a calf.")^[10]

Art gallery in Nuremberg, Germany. The Kunsthalle Nürnberg is an art centre founded in 1967, near the city centre. It organizes exhibitions by contemporary international artists in its galleries in Nuremberg. The Kunsthalle commissions new work by a majority of the artists it works with.

Solo exhibitions (selection):

• 2017: Fearless Alicia Framis
• 2016: Scroll Down And Keep Scrolling Fiona Banner
• 2015: Warten auf Gegenwart II Alicja Kwade
• 2014: I tempi doppi Tatiana Trouve
• 2012: From Here to Eternity Susan Hiller
• 2011: Silvia Bächli and Eric Hattan
• 2010/2011: Mircea Cantor
• 2010: Corinne Wasmuht, Karla Black, Mathilde ter Heijne
• 2009/2010: Jürgen Teller

Group exhibitions (selection):

• 2012: Goldrausch featuring works by Pawel Althamer, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Filip Gilissen, Jonathan Monk, Claus Richter and others.
• 2012: 30 Künstler / 30 Räume featuring works by Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Michael Beutler, Nairy Baghramian, Rosemarie Trockel, Tobias Rehberger and others.

Bridge. The Chain Bridge is a pedestrian chain bridge in Nuremberg, Germany. The bridge crosses the river Pegnitz just a few meters upriver of Fronveste and Schlayerturm, fortifications in the course of the medieval city wall guarding the river's exit from the town. It connects Maxplatz in Sebalder Altstadt with Untere Kreuzgasse in Lorenz, the quarter on the south side of the river.

The Chain Bridge was built in 1824 and is thus the oldest chain bridge on the European continent. It was not given any specific name, but the public used to call it by what it appeared to be: a narrow pedestrian bridge (German: Steg) with chains (German: Ketten).

The bridge has two spans of 33 m each and a total length of 68 m. On either side, there are two strands of wrought iron eyebars, originally supported by three wooden towers standing on the banks of the river and on the small island, and anchored in solid masonry blocks on either side. The wooden deck was suspended from the chains by hangers, also of wrought iron.

The wooden towers were damaged by the very high floods of 1909 and, thereafter, replaced by towers of iron trusses still in existence.

As in most early suspension bridges, its bridge deck was not stiff and easily developed swaying motions under the steps of the pedestrians—and some youths enjoyed provoking the swaying on purpose. Eventually, in 1927 a police ordinance was issued in order to stop such dangerous actions. In 1930, the bridge deck was stiffened by steel girders and wooden piles were placed in the river supporting the deck. In the Nazi era, the official opinion was to remove it altogether, which was only prevented by the outbreak of war in 1939.

In 2009, the wooden piles were not safe any more and the bridge had to be closed. Substantial donations of citizens and local companies allowed a complete reconstruction, using as much as possible of the original structure and reinstating the suspension bridge structure without any other supports. The renewed wooden deck was stiffened by integrating a flat steel box girder into it, which is hardly visible. On 22 December 2010 the bridge was reopened to pedestrian use.^[18]

Tourist attraction in Nuremberg, Germany. The Pellerhaus monument is an archive and library building on Egidienplatz in Nuremberg's old city centre. It extends over the area of the historic Pellerhaus and the historic Imhoff house to the east of it, which was rebuilt after the war in the contemporary design of the late 1950s.

An important art and architectural Renaissance building stood here before its destruction in 1944 to 1945 during the bombing of Nuremberg in World War II. The ground floor and parts of the courtyard have been preserved and were integrated into the new building in 1955/1957. At that time, the funds for the complete reconstruction were lacking, but modern Mayer architects' building became an outstanding example of 1950s architecture and is part of Nuermbergs modern Cultural heritage since 1998. From 2008 to 2018, the courtyard was reconstructed through the initiative of the cultural organisation Old Town Friends Nuremberg (Altstadtfreunde Nürnberg) using donations. The Old Town Friends intend to reconstruct the entire Pellerhaus to its original design, but this is widely discussed as a controversial issue.^[22]

The Fernmeldeturm Nürnberg, the tallest structure in Bavaria, is a telecommunication tower in Nuremberg, southern Germany. Also called the Nürnberger Ei because of its egg-shaped tower basket in a height of 185 metres, it is 292 metres high and was built between 1977 and 1980 according to blueprints by architect Erwin Heinle.

The tower basket accommodates transmission mechanisms for Frequency modulation, DAB, UMTS, pager, amateur radio and a microwave radio relay link and – closed since 1991 – a rotating restaurant and a prospect platform. Responsible operator is the DFMG Deutsche Funkturm (German radio tower) GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom based in Münster. From 22 January 2003 to 4 April 2003 the Nürnberg telecommunication tower also served for the spreading of the program of megaradio on mediumwave frequency 945 kHz. For this a wire antenna was strung along the tower shaft, from the top of the tower to the roof of an operating building near the tower.

Since July 2009 a 360° Panoramacamera shows the view over Nuremberg from 194 metres.^[24]

Sculpture. The Way of Human Rights is a monumental outdoor sculpture in Nuremberg, Germany. It was opened on 24 October 1993. It is sited on the street between the new and old buildings of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, connecting Kornmarkt street and the medieval city wall.

In 1988, a twelve-person jury from the Germanisches Nationalmuseum held a design competition to decide on the artistic design of the Kartäusergasse street in Nuremberg.

The winner was a proposal by Israeli artist Dani Karavan consisting of a gate, 27 round pillars made of white concrete, two pillars buried in the ground showing only a round plate, and one columnar oak, for a total of 30 pillars.

Engraved in each pillar is one article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in German and another language. The pillars are 8 metres in height, 80 cm in diameter, and spaced regularly at 5 metres along an axis. The north gate mirrors the medieval city gate located at the south end of the street.

The site of project has a layered history, including the remnants of a monastery, the medieval city wall, buildings designed by Sep Ruf in the 1950s and 1960s, and a glass-enclosed entrance designed by the firm ME DI UM in 1993.

This sculpture is part of Nuremberg's efforts to shake off its Nazi-era reputation as the "City of the Party Rallies" and reinvent itself as a "City of Peace and Human Rights".

In 2001, Nuremberg was honored for this attempt at transformation with the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education, the Way of Human Rights being specifically cited. The monument is intended as both a repudiation of past crimes and a permanent reminder that human rights are still regularly violated. Nuremberg's prize for human rights, the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, is awarded on the site every two years.^[26]