Tour of Pfullingen
View of
Pfullingen from west. This picture shows how Pfullingen occupies the
exit of the Echaz river valley. It was taken from the western side of the
valley looking towards the east.
View of
Pfullingen from south. The Swabian Jura is behind your back in this
view. The isolated mountains are Georgenberg ('Mt. George') to the left
and Achalm to the right. Both mountains are remnants which withstood the
erosion of the Swabian Jura which originally extended much further to the
north. Georgenberg consists of solidified magma which got stuck inside an
ancient volcano, so there is no danger of a present eruption... The city
in the background between the two mountains is neighboring
Reutlingen.
City halls
of Pfullingen. The two city halls of Pfullingen, on Market Square in
the center of the town, date back at least half a millenium. Town privileges
were granted in 1699, raising Pfullingen from the state of a village. The
town center features a pedestrian zone and was completely remodeled in the
1980s, for which Pfullingen won several state and national prizes.
Church St.
Martin. The main (protestant) church St. Martin is located opposite
to the city halls on Market Square. It was finished in the 15th century,
but excavations inside the church found evidence for several predecessors
back to the 6th century.
Former
monastery church. This church is the only major remnant of the former
nunnery of Pfullingen which was founded in 1252 and destroyed partially in
1539. Inside, it features unique mural paintings from the 13th century which
are preserved so well that they weren't in need of restoration. The building
is now used for concerts and art exhibitions.
The
castle. The castle was sold by local noblemen to count Eberhard im
Bart ('Eberhard in the beard' - that's not a misspelling, it's indeed
'in the beard'! He must have had a really big beard...) of Württemberg
in 1487. Count Eberhard used it as a hunting seat, and it
now houses a kindergarten and the local music school. The little boy in front
of it is me some three decades ago.
The
Schlößle ('little castle'). The Schlößle was a
servant's building for the nearby castle and dates from the same period of
time. It is now used as the museum for municipal and local history
displaying artifacts from two millenia.
The Pfullingen
Halls. The Pfullingen Halls on the outskirts of the city were the
gift of Louis Laiblin (1861-1927), an entrepreneur who became rich through
his paper-mills in Pfullingen. The Halls are a combination of a concert
hall and a gymnasium and are at the center of cultural live in Pfullingen.
Finished in 1907, the Halls contain unique Art Nouveau mural paintings by
south German artists inside.
The
Klostersee ('monastery lake') housing estate. Built on the area of a
former weaving-mill near the center of Pfullingen in the 1980s, the
Klostersee housing estate features an artifical lake formed by damming up
one of the many branches of the Echaz river which flow through the city.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to my dad Wilhelm Götz for sending over the prints and to Paul Mende for scanning them so nicely.
Comments? Questions? Please mail to
fgmg@frsgym.dk.
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