ell here I am back in Augsburg again. It is the
first time that I have been back since December 2003, so quite a while really
for a City that I like so much. Unfortunately I have few friends left there
nowadays, and things have certainly changed since I left there around four years
ago now. many of my former work colleagues have retired, and some of the locals
I used to drink with in the bars have disappeared too. I only managed to meet up
with four old friends whilst there, in the form of Mick Oakey, American Bob,
Fred Deeney, and our good old landlord of the Little Bar Gunther.
Augsburg Hauptbahnof
and Devils' Tower (Dorint Hotel Turm)
The Dorint Hotel
Tower is the best-known high-rise building in the German city of Augsburg and
visible throughout the city. It is the highest building in the Augsburg area and
among the ten highest in Bavaria. It is located at the intersection of Gögginger
Straße and Imhofstraße, in the borough of Göggingen. In its vicinity are the
Congress Hall and Wittelsbacher Park
The building is architecturally similar to the Marina City twin towers in
Chicago. The tower is nicknamed "Maiskolben" (corncob) by locals because of its
cylindrical shape with numerous bulges
Augsburg Rathaus and
the Perlach Tower
The city was founded
in 15 BC in the reign of Roman emperor Augustus as a garrison called Augusta
Vindelicorum. It was laid to waste by the Huns in the fifth century, by
Charlemagne in the eighth, and by Welf of Bavaria in the eleventh; it rose each
time only to greater prosperity
It became an Imperial Free City on March 9, 1276. Given its strategic location
on the trade routes to Italy, it became a major trading centre. It produced
large quantities of woven goods, cloth and textiles, and was the base for the
Fugger banking empire. The Fuggerei, part of the city devoted to housing for the
needy citizens of Augsburg, was founded in 1516 and is still in use today
Rathausplatz
In 1530 the Augsburg
Confession was presented to the Holy Roman Emperor at the Diet of Augsburg.
Following the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, after which the rights of religious
minorities in imperial cities were to be protected, a mixed Catholic-Protestant
city council presided over a majority Protestant population
Until the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), religious peace in the city was largely
maintained despite increasing confessional tensions. In 1629 Emperor Ferdinand
II issued the Edict of Restitution resulting in the installation of an entirely
Catholic city government that radically curtailed the rights of local
Protestants. This persisted until April 1632, when the Swedish army of Gustavus
Adolphus took the city without resistance. Just over two years later, the
Swedish army was routed at nearby Nördlingen, and by October 1634 Catholic
troops had surrounded Augsburg. The Swedish garrison refused to surrender and a
disastrous siege ensued through the winter of 1634–5, during which thousands
died of hunger and disease
These difficulties,
together with the discovery of America, and of the road to India by the Cape,
conspired to destroy the town's prosperity. In 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire
was dissolved, Augsburg lost its independence and became part of the kingdom of
Bavaria. It increased considerably in industrial importance in the nineteenth
century. It contained large cotton and woolen mills, machine shops, and
manufacturers of acetylene gas, paper, chemicals, jewelry, and leather. Out of
one acetylene gas plant the company KUKA was founded (1898) as Keller und
Knappich Augsburg, today one of the leading companies for industrial robots.
Also it gave birth to the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg (Later to merge with
Maschinenfabrik Nurnberg and become Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nurnberg or MAN AG)
- a machine factory where Rudolf Diesel pioneered commercial production of his
Diesel engine
Shadows
In 1941 Rudolf Hess
took off from a local airport and flew to Scotland to meet the Duke of Hamilton
and attempt to mediate the end of the European front of World War II and join
sides for the upcoming Russian Campaign
In 1945 elements of the US Army occupied the heavily damaged city. An American
Military presence in the city started with the 11th Airborne Division, moving to
the 24th Infantry Division, US Army Seventh Corps Artillery, and, ending with
the 66th Military Intelligence Brigade, which left the area in 1998
Augsburg Theatre and
Königsplatz
Some of the very
famous sights to be seen in Augsburg:-
Rathaus (Town hall)
built in 1620 in Renaissance style
Perlachturm, a bell tower built in 1182
Fuggerei
Bishop's Residence, built about 1750 in order to replace the older bishop
palace; today the administrative seat of Swabia
Augsburg Cathedral, founded in the 9th century
Augsburger Puppenkiste a very famous marionette theater
Eiskanal
Dorint Hotel Tower
Der Goldene Saal
Friends United
American Bob, Mick
and Myself visiting a few of our old haunts
All photographs were taken in Augsburg - Germany on the
21st September 2006.
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