Weißenburg i.Bay.: Discover Roman times and the history of the Free Imperial City

Roman finds and everyday life on the Limes

The Weißenburg Roman Museum displays the Weißenburg Roman treasure, with 17 figurines of gods. It also features votive tablets, vessels from the sacred sphere, everyday objects and parts of parade armour. The objects offer insights into different aspects of Roman life, from religion to equipment and daily routines. The exhibition broadens this perspective: it explores cultural exchange between Romans and Germanic peoples, as well as the everyday lives of soldiers in the fort and of traders and family members in the associated civilian settlement. You can therefore focus your museum visit either on the treasure find or on life together and the different roles in the fort and civilian settlement.

The Roman Museum offers children a challenging activity sheet with questions to solve. It covers life on the Limes, Roman jewellery and the Weißenburg treasure find. If you are travelling with children, these questions can provide a specific starting point for conversation during your museum visit; they link several exhibition topics rather than focusing solely on the valuable artefacts.

Explore the thermal baths and city wall

The Roman Baths of Weißenburg also bring Roman architectural history to life. A scale model and the docudrama “Power, Splendour and Decline” give visitors an impression of the baths’ and fort’s former size and appearance. Thanks to conservation and restoration work in the early 1980s, visitors can also clearly trace the architectural development of the Roman baths. The model, film and surviving building fabric thus offer different ways to explore the subject.

The 2.2 km city wall circular trail offers a different perspective on Weißenburg. The walk is estimated to take about an hour. It follows the completely preserved sections of the city wall at Seeweiher and Schießgraben. The town fortifications, with their 38 towers, are among the structures that testify to Weißenburg’s heyday as a Free Imperial City. The trail is therefore a practical way to explore the town’s history outdoors; its length and approximate walking time help you factor this option into your day’s plans.

Ellinger Gate stands in the north of Weißenburg’s old town and was originally part of the city wall built around 1200. The first Weißenburg town coat of arms, dating from 1241, is displayed on the gate, with the second, from 1481, opposite it. The 1241 coat of arms depicts half a white castle and half an imperial eagle, thus referring to the town’s status as an imperial free city. The two dates and different coats of arms offer another way to explore the town’s history through the building.

The Free Imperial City and its history

For five centuries, Weißenburg was a Free Imperial City subject only to the emperor. The Imperial City Museum presents this history in themed rooms using documents, everyday objects and treasures. Topics range from the Empire and its constitution to the special constitutional status of the Imperial Cities. The Kaaden House in the museum also documents the flight and expulsion of Germans from the East as a result of the Second World War, and their integration into their new home in Weißenburg. Those interested in local history will therefore find a dedicated focus on the post-war period alongside the era of the Imperial City.

When choosing your holiday apartment in Weißenburg, you can start by considering which of these themes you want to shape your trip: Roman finds and the Limes, the thermal baths, the town fortifications or the history of the Imperial City. The options vary in format, from museums and exhibitions to a circular walk of about an hour. This makes it possible to choose your accommodation location to suit the experiences that interest you most in Weißenburg.

Other places at the same level: Meinheim, Markt Berolzheim, Westheim, Ettenstatt, Gunzenhausen, Solnhofen, Heidenheim and Gnotzheim.

For the overarching travel overview: Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen.