For lunch I had Fränkischer Pfefferschinken & Frankenthaler Käse and Apfelstrudel.
Nuremberg Castle was built in the 11th century and played a central role in the history of Bavaria and Germany for almost 1,000 years, that is until 1945.
The Burgraves ceded power to the Habsburgs who became Holy Roman Emperors until the time of Napoleon, then the castle became the seat of the kings of Bavaria. They mucked up the interiors altering them to a neo-Gothic fantasy attempting to evoke the building’s medieval past. When Hitler began to use Nuremberg as a focal point for demonstrations of loyalty to the Nazi party he used the castle but decided to restore the interiors to their “authentic” origins. After the war the castle was restored along similar lines to the 1930s “purification”.
The most impressive and interesting part of the building is the double chapel. The Basilica in Assisi has one church on top of another but this is the first double chapel with an aperture in the floor of the upper (Imperial) chapel looking down to the lower (St Margaret’s) chapel that I have seen. It is Romanesque, built around 1200. There are at least twenty examples in Germany – much more than in all the rest of Europe. There is one example in England: the 11th century Bishop’s Chapel in Hereford Cathedral.
Double Chapel sounds like a punishment at an English Public School but The Dixie Cups have another take.