Sights

In 1623 city architect Elias Holl began work on the hospital building The Hospice of the Holy Spirit. This Renaissance style structure is home to the Augsburg Puppet Theater, where fairy tales, plays and cabaret adaptations have been performed since 1948. The Puppet Theater Museum displays its most famous characters and also offers English language tours.

The Ottonic cathedral was built around 1000 CE on top of a Carolingian structure from which the crypt is preserved. Five Romanesque stained glass “prophets windows” from 1065 are the oldest figurative stained glass cycle in the world. In the 14th and 15th centuries a Gothic chancel and two important figural portals were added to the church. The cathedral contains hundreds of artisically crafted tombstones from 1285.

The waterworks at the Red Gate is an ensemble of three water towers, two fountain master houses and an aqueduct which had its beginnings in 1416. The waterworks were in operation until 1879. The exhibition in the small and large water towers and in the fountain master’s house describes the system of water wheel powered piston pumps which were used. The Swabian Craftsmen Museum is in the lower fountain master’s house.

St. Anne’s was founded as a Carmelite monastery in 1321. The church’s baroque sanctuary was completed in 1749. It contains the Gold Smith’s chapel and the Fugger Mausoleum, Bavaria’s first Renaissance structure and Jakob Fugger’s burial place. In 1518 Martin Luther stayed at the monastery and his famous portrait by Lucas Cranach is shown. The Luther Steps museum outlines the history of the Reformation in Augsburg.

In 1886 the planned Park Theater of the Hessing Orthopedic Sanatorium was opened. The “casino with a winter garden” us a light filled iron, glass and cast iron construction and a monument of architectural engineering. The only preserved multi purpose theater that was built in the founders period. Today it is a performance venue for the Park Theater.

The Cistercian monastery Oberschönenfeld in the idyllic Schwarzach valley near Gessertshausen was founded in 1211. In 1803 it was dissolved and in 1928 the Abbey was restored. The district of Swabia established the Museum Oberschönenfeld in the unutilized stables of the monastery. The Swabian Gallery, the Nature Park House and the Museum of Local History are also found on the abbey’s grounds.

In 1838 Duke Max of Bavaria acquired the Water Castle in Unterwittelsbach. His daughter, Sisi, was later the Habsburg Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. The “Sisi Castle” is one of the destination along the international “Sisi Road”. Every year the Water Castle features exhibits about the life of the beautiful Elisabeth from Wittelsbach