The record-union., 1892-05-07
HISTORICAL TOWNS.
Quaint Places Found by Artists in
Germany.


AT Nurnberg you plunge directly into
the age when Germany was hive of ar
tlsans, and not few artists gave fame to
the town. Long sections of the old wall
remain with the moat and gate towers.
ihlS Is seen as soon as one quits the sta
ton. a further advance into the town
reveals those delightful housefronts, vast
sloping roofs set with windows like
sleepy eyes, old cobblestoned squares
and gables with ''corbie stanes" making
steps for the crows on the two meeting
sides OF the triangle which make up for
the frlgId clasSIciSm of Munich Nurn-
berg is DO great distance from that capital
by rail, but 1t Is separated from it in art
| by VIDE gaps IN space and time.
The only rival to NurnbergI Is Rothen-
burg on the Iauber, further north, a little
slumberous town off the common beats
OF tourists, which has, however. been
discovered by the artists, especially those
OF England. London is more familiar with
the look Of Rothenburg's walls, market
place and Town House than Berlin is}
or than Paris. Its walls are almost in
| tact and the twelve towers are still there.
while the important buildings in Ger
man Gothic, with a certain admixture of
the classical themes, are even better pre-
served than those OF Nurnberg. But the
latter is much larger, more stocked with
recollections Of historical events and
matters belonging to the arts.
Ia modern times Nurnberg has been
noted as center for the trade in wooden
toys, but in the Middle Ages her work
shops abounded in a hundred different
articles OF industry that went by Venice
TO the orient, and found their Way
through the Low Countries to the other
side OF the globe. After the discovery of
printing and OF America, the old free
town OF the German Empire was the
very place for engravers to develop their
art, SO that it was by no means chance
which caused Nurnberg to be the
home of AIbrecht Durer. What that
master still means to the old city NAV be
inferred from the square, an irregular
opening IN the houses running SteeDlV mn
hill toward the castle, which is named
for him, from the statue of Durer which
ornaments the square, from the house
higher up the hill which has an inscrip-
ton setting forth that he lived there, and
from the Durer Museum, into which
many things connected with his career
have been brought together
AT Nurnberg the German tourist
abounds to that degree that often the hos
telrles are unable to accommodate more
guests. Hither they come to en1oy old
Germany, look at the thousand and one
articles in the Germanic Museum, cape at
the IugenDrunnen, or Fountain of Vir-
tue, modelled and cast in bronze by Wur-
zeIbauer in 1889, the popularity of which
consists in the fact that fine streams of
water spirit from the breasts of the bronze
nymphs, and to ascend the steep streets
on the other side of the Pegnitz in order
to obtain view of the whole town from
the restaurant at the castle. Here the
HohenZollerns once dwelt and ruled it-or
In castle on the same site-so that it is
part of the liberal education of Germans
who admire the reigning imperial family
to visit the nest of the old Burgrayes who
founded the Prussian house. The Ger
man tourist, however, who knows his
Nurnberg does not accomplish the ten
minute walk between the restaurant at
the station and the restaurant at the
Burg without paying a visit to a lit
tie tavern-a mere nook of an inn
half way up the street to the castle.
This is reeking little den in
the parsonage OF St. Sebaldus' Church
where twelve tourists absolutely block
the room and the others have to sit out
side in the street. Here one gets far
famed beer of Nurnberg called Tucher-
bier from the old family of Tuchers. It
Is smooth brown liquid like some of
the Munich brands, very rich and nutri-
dous. Great quantities of little sausages
are devoured by the beer drinkers at the
same time, and those in whom Germanic
patriotism and tastes flare with a con-
sumlng zeal partake of great platters of
sour cabbage. In the bad smoke and
general frowsiness of this inn one gets a
vivid sensation of the discomforts of the
middle ages, its bad cookery, gross living
and lack of cleanliness. 'Tis an old Ger
many that smells to heaven.
Nurnberg itself is by no means un-
cared for in sanitary way, consider
ing that it is not one of the towns which
has leveled its walls and driven broad
avenues through its picturesque districts.
Walks about the city are perpetual de-
light to the eyes, and the nose is rarely
onended. Nurnberg gives one the idea
of most prosperous place. where the
innkeepers in the next generation are
likely TO be the people of Importance and
fashion.