Historical Karlstadt

Karlstadt railway station is directly adjacent to the old town. Walk straight ahead a few steps into Neue Bahnhofstraße and turn left into the pretty green area by the town wall. Stroll through this until you reach Alte Bahnhofstraße.

You are now entering the centre of the old town. You will notice the so-called "Arche" on your right. This pretty half-timbered house from the 16th century used to be the German School of Karlstadt and is now used by the Order of the Knights Templar as a monastery and guest house.

You probably don't feel like resting at the start of your hike and you have probably already spotted your first destination: the parish church of St Andrew.

The parish church of St Andreas is affectionately referred to by the people of Karlstadt as the small town cathedral. Its oldest components date back to the founding of the town of Karlstadt over 900 years ago.

The interior of the church harbours a number of important art treasures from all centuries of the town's history. For example, the larger-than-life sandstone sculpture of Christ as Saviour of the World in the choir, which was probably created in Würzburg around 1380. Of all the sculptures on the pillars of the nave, St Nicholas by Tilman Riemenschneider from 1505 stands out in particular. A sandstone pulpit and other sculptures also originate from the same period.
The church is open daily.

The Rieneck Chapel was built between 1467 and 1477. The High Gothic epitaphs of the Voit von Rieneck family of counts can be seen on the arches of its choir. The treasury in the southern transept contains a series of precious gold and silver jewellery, some of which comes from workshops in Augsburg. Several wall paintings and the neo-Gothic stained glass windows from the 19th century are also worthy of note.

You'll get into hiking today, I promise. But now it's just a few more steps to your next destination.

You have already caught a glimpse of its rear side. Walk along the narrow Schützengasse, which leads into the church square directly in front of the church tower, and the main street to the front gable of the historic town hall on Karlstadt's market square.

The historic town hall dominates and adorns the market square in the centre of the old town. Built in 1422 as a council, merchant and dance house, it epitomises the archetype of a German town hall. The market hall on the ground floor has three naves and the citizens' hall on the first floor is still the largest of its kind in Franconia.

The façade with its stepped gable facing the market square gives the otherwise rather plain exterior its unmistakable character. The double flight of steps originally provided the only access to the upper hall.

The little bell tower of the town hall clock crowns the ridge. Above it, in a niche, stands the "Schwedenmännle", created in 1718 by the Karlstadt sculptor Kilian Schüßler. Five times a day, it sounds its lansquenet tune "Vom Barette schwankt die Feder".
It can be heard every even hour from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the Old Town.

The view across the market square down to the Main Gate with the ruins of Karlsburg Castle in the background is a popular photo motif for good reason. For you, it is also a preview of the literal highlight of today's tour.

You cross the market square, walk towards the river and pass through the gate.

The Main is now directly in front of you and Karlsburg Castle appears on the opposite side of the Main.

You walk along the left bank of the Main until you come to a large, cobbled square with the mill tower and the historic Rossmühle mill just before the subway through the town wall.

The old horse mill behind the south-west corner of the town wall has been rediscovered thanks to the redevelopment of the old town centre. Horses once ensured that the mill was set in motion and kept going in a ground floor vault made of quarry stone. This meant that even in times of war, when the people of Karlstadt were unable to have their grain milled in Mühlbach on the other side of the Main, they had the flour they so urgently needed.

Since its abandonment in the middle of the 17th century, the vaults of this gin mill have formed the foundation for a house garden. New construction work as part of the renovation of the old town centre in 1991 made it possible to uncover the walled-up mill room and restore it.

The wooden mill was reconstructed by volunteers between 1998 and 2004 and can be set in motion by visitors themselves during a tour - due to a lack of suitable horses.

On your last stage in the old town, leave the Mühlturm behind you and follow Untere Spitalgasse towards Hauptstraße to another tower, your fourth stop: the Oberer Torturm. The Türmerstube inside the tower is accessible as part of a guided tour of the town.

The Upper Gate Tower forms the southern entrance to the town and was the seat of the town tower until the beginning of our century. It is popularly known as the Cat Tower. This name goes back to a legend, according to which the last tower keeper survived a fall from the penultimate floor onto a large pile of brushwood completely unscathed - like a cat.

The construction of the Upper Gate Tower - incidentally one of the tallest in Franconia - dates back to around 1350. During the renovation of the old town in 1990/1991, it was repainted with its 16th century colours. On the land side is the large coat of arms of Prince-Bishop Melchior Zobel von Giebelstadt.

To the side, next to the modern pedestrian passageway, a crucifixion relief from the 15th century is walled in. It was once the last stop for those condemned to death on their way to the place of execution in the gateway as a so-called confession altar.

After the tour of Karlstadt's old town centre, you now set off on the hiking stages of today's tour.

You cross the Main on the Old Main Bridge. On the other bank, a small flight of steps leads you down from the bridge on the right.

Follow the signs until you reach the Burgweg, which takes you through a species-rich high forest and past the Schlössle, a villa built in 1910, to the highlight of your short circular tour: the ruins of Karlsburg Castle.

Anyone who has made the short climb up to Karlsburg Castle will be rewarded with a breathtaking view over Karlstadt, the surrounding area and the Main Valley. Excavations in the 1970s and 1990s show that the ruins had several predecessor buildings dating back to the Merovingian period in the 7th century.

The castle hill, naturally secured to the south and east by steep slopes, was fortified to the west and north by a system of ditches and ramparts. During a second construction phase in the 10th century, a wall with square bastions was erected.

In the 13th century, the prince-bishops of Würzburg levelled the old fortifications and built the stone Karlsburg, which is still in ruins today, on the same site. In 1409, the indebted Bishop Johann von Egloffstein had to pledge the castle to the cathedral chapter, in whose possession it remained for almost 90 years. During this time, a much admired well some 60 metres deep was built.

In spring 1525, shortly before the Peasants' War in Würzburg was bloodily suppressed, the people of Karlstadt destroyed Karlsburg Castle after much hesitation. Stone robbers plundered the remains until the middle of the 19th century. Since then, it has towered over Karlstadt in its present form.

If you can tear yourself away from the marvellous view, you can walk once around the Schlossberg.

You start on the right across the field and keep walking, following the signs for the K2 Schlossberg circular trail. This will take you to the Mühlbacher Fronberg vineyard.

There you walk along the Mühlbach educational wine trail and panoramic path, where you will learn lots of interesting facts about the grape varieties cultivated, from Silvaner to Domina.

The descent takes you back through the forest and over the Old Main Bridge. You follow the upper city wall to the railway station.

Or you can treat yourself to another detour into the old town centre on the way, perhaps to one of the traditional wine taverns or hedge taverns, where you can sample regional Franconian wine and small dishes.