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choco_froshThe nice thing when you're nursing sore joints walking into Regensburg is the fact that the ground drops off about a quarter mile away, giving you a wonderful view of the skyline. This is heavy on the towers, though not the skyscrapers: Regensburg’s major modern industry is tourism…but up til about 1500, the city was booming. Result: towers--built, as now, to provide more space and show off how cool you are by outtopping your neighbors.
Our tour guide last week pointed out that most of the towers belonged not to churches but to the city’s patrician families (Geschlecter). According to him, the characteristic form of the great house in Regensburg--with courtyards and towers--was picked up from Italy, where it is still a feature of towns like San Gemignano, and brought home by Regensburg merchants anxous to copy the latest in civic fashions. This may be so. On the other hand, they may just have copied the nobles, since they did indeed aspire to nobility, and towers and courtyards are obviously a feature of castles...
(And pace our guide, Geschlectertürme weren’t a feature unique to Regensburg: it’s just that in other German cities [like Konstanz] they went out of style and got taken down. They’re now back in fashion, but the university bought the tallest one before the Altstadt became fashionable, so it’s now inhabited by students.)
Our tour guide last week pointed out that most of the towers belonged not to churches but to the city’s patrician families (Geschlecter). According to him, the characteristic form of the great house in Regensburg--with courtyards and towers--was picked up from Italy, where it is still a feature of towns like San Gemignano, and brought home by Regensburg merchants anxous to copy the latest in civic fashions. This may be so. On the other hand, they may just have copied the nobles, since they did indeed aspire to nobility, and towers and courtyards are obviously a feature of castles...
(And pace our guide, Geschlectertürme weren’t a feature unique to Regensburg: it’s just that in other German cities [like Konstanz] they went out of style and got taken down. They’re now back in fashion, but the university bought the tallest one before the Altstadt became fashionable, so it’s now inhabited by students.)
