Augsburg, Romantic Road

Augsburg is one of the oldest cities in Germany. It is the third-largest city in Bavaria, with a population of 300,000 residents (885,000 if you include the metro area), and is a university town. Founded in 15BC by the Romans, it was named August Vindelicorum after Emperor Augustus. The city was home to the noble families Fugger and Welser, who controlled European banking in the 16th century. The Water Management System of Augsburg was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.

Augsburg has the world's oldest social housing complex. It was founded in 1513 by Jakob Fugger, who also established a charitable trust to provide ongoing funding for its upkeep. Located in a walled enclave, the housing complex was established to provide housing for needy citizens. The complex is still in use today under the same conditions as 500 years ago. Aside from three daily prayers, the tenant paid and still pays equivalent to 0.88 euros and must hold a part-time job in the community. To be eligible, a person had to be Catholic, live in Augsburg for two years and become poor without debt. The wall gates are still locked at 10pm as they were in the past. Each apartment has an elaborately shaped doorbell that dates back to when streetlights hadn’t yet been invented. Residents could feel the handle in the dark to identify their door.

Inside a Renaissance-style building that once served as a hospital is the Augsburg Puppet Theatre. The theatre was founded by Walter and Rose Oehmichen and their two daughters in 1943 in a small setup, which was destroyed a year later after a bomb attack on the town during WWII. Fortunately, only the stage was destroyed, as the puppets were taken home following a performance in a separate location, which saved them. After the war, the family found space at the hospital building and opened up with the performance of Puss in Boots. The puppets were initially hand-carved by Walter and later taken over by his daughter, Hannelore, who continued carving the dolls until her passing in 2003. The puppet theatre was handed down from generation to generation and has remained in the family since its inception. In 2001, a museum was opened to showcase its most famous marionettes.

The centre of the city has widely varied architecture such as: the Gothic onion-domed Basilica of Saint Ulrich and Afra which in 1777 held a Mozart organ concert (Augsburg was the birthplace of Mozart’s father); the Renaissance Town Hall with its Golden Hall, an ornately decorated room recognised for its wood coffered ceiling and rich gold decorations on its furnishing; and the Fuggerhaüser a complex of houses that once served as the seat of the Fugger family, a wealthy banking dynasty.