Nördlingen

Nördlingen
Nördlingen, south view from the church tower Daniel
Nördlingen
Location of the town of Nördlingen within Donau-Ries district
Coordinates	48°51′0″N 10°30′0″E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Bavaria
Admin. region	Swabia
District	Donau-Ries
Lord Mayor	Hermann Faul (PWG)
Basic statistics
Area	68.10 km2 (26.29 sq mi)
Elevation	441 m  (1447 ft)
Population	19,023 (31 December 2010)
- Density	279 /km2 (723 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	DON (before 1972: NÖ)
Postal code	86720
Area code	09081
Website	www.noerdlingen.de

Nördlingen is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany, with a population of 20,000. It is located in the middle of a complex meteorite crater, called the Nördlinger Ries. The town was also the place of two battles during the Thirty Years' War. Today it is one of only three towns in Germany that still has a completely established city wall, the other two being Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbühl.

Another tourist feature of this mediæval town is its 90 m steeple called "Daniel", being part of the Saint Georg's Church and made of an impact breccia called suevite containing shocked quartz. Other notable buildings are the town hall (13th century), St. Salvator church and the Spital, a former medieval hospital. The Ries crater museum is located in the well-preserved medieval tanner's quarter.

The city is home to several other museums, such as the Bavarian Railway Museum, the Nördlingen city museum (Stadtmuseum), the city wall museum (Stadtmauermuseum) and Augenblick museum with panoramas, magic lanterns, silent films, barrel organs, pianolas, music boxes and gramophones.

Nördlingen is also notable for the Scharlachrennen, a notable horse riding tournament that was first mentioned in 1463.

History

Nördlingen stamp

The remains of a Roman castellum, built in the year 85 and probably called Septemiacum, have been found under the city. In 1998, Nördlingen celebrated its 1100-year-old history.

Until the Thirty Years' War and the Battle of Nördlingen (1634), Nördlingen was one of Germany's major trading towns. Nördlingen trade fair (Pfingstmesse) was first mentioned in 1219. A second battle was also fought there during the Thirty Years' War.

Nördlingen was one of the first Protestant cities and took part in the Protestation at Speyer in 1529.

In 1604 a shortened and simplified version of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was performed in Nördlingen - this was one of the first performances of any Shakespearean play outside England.

In 1802 Nördlingen ceased being a Free imperial city and became part of Bavaria.

Economy

Saint George's church, Nördlingen

Important companies in Nördlingen are:

• Strenesse – fashion
• C.H. Beck – book publisher
• Kathrein – antenna manufacturer
• Ankerbräu – brewery

Sport

Nördlingen town hall, seen from Daniel

The local sports club, the TSV 1861 Nördlingen, has a very successful basketball department with the men's and the women's team both in the Basketball Bundesliga. The clubs football team is traditionally the strongest side in northern Swabia. Its most successful former player is Gerd Müller, who was born and raised in Nördlingen. Its stadium was renamed in his honour in 2008.

Popular culture

The fairytale-ballet anime Princess Tutu is set in the fictional Kinkan Town, which is heavily based on Nördlingen.

Nördlingen was the town shown in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in 1971, when in the final scenes when the glass elevator is floating over a town.

• 

  A screenshot of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The 1970 town looks much the same as today.

• 

  Another screenshot of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Impact Diamonds

Moon rock in the Ries crater museum

Stone buildings in the town contain millions of tiny diamonds, all less than 0.2 millimeters across. The impact that caused the Nördlinger Ries crater created an estimated 72000 tons of them when it impacted a local graphite deposit. Stone from this area was later quarried and used to build the stone buildings.

Twin Cities

• Markham, Ontario, Canada
• Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia
• Riom, Auvergne, France
• Olomouc, Czech Republic

See also

• Battle of Nördlingen (1634)
• Battle of Nördlingen (1645)
• Rintfleisch-Pogrom
• Master of Nördlingen, whose name is derived from the town
• Henry of Nördlingen

References

• Emsley, John (2001). NATURE'S BUILDING BLOCKS. Oxford University Press, pp. 99. ISBN 0-19-850341-5.
• Baier, Johannes (2007): Die Ausfwurfprodukte des Ries-Impakts, Deutschland, 'in Documenta Naturae, Vol. 162, München. ISBN 978-3-86544-162-1
• Baier, Johannes (2008): Zur Herkunft der Suevit-Grundmasse des Ries-Impakt Kraters, in Documenta Naturae, Vol. 172, München. ISSN 0723-8428

External links

• Ries Crater Museum, Nördlingen
• Noerdlingen — a Bavarian town in a crater, website with further information and some pictures
• Scharlachrennen Nördlingen

English

• Official website