BW-Story - Hirsch & Greif
40,000 years of human history from the Stone Age to the modern age
From Ice Age art to Neues Wohnen: if you travel through SouthWest Germany to visit our UNESCO world heritage sites, you will experience 40,000 years of history.
1. THE LONE AND ACH VALLEYS
Discoveries from the Ice Age
© Schwäbische Alb Tourismus, Günther Bayerl
© Christina Bleier für Archäopark Vogelherd
© TMBW
People make art, and this was already true 40,000 years ago, which is demonstrated by the approximately 50 mammoth-ivory sculptures and the eight flutes found in the Lone and Ach valleys – among the oldest works of art in the world. Six caves in the Swabian Alb and the exhibits found there have held World Heritage status since 2017.
2. Reichenau
The devout island
© TMBW, Raatz
© TMBW
© TMBW
Christianity brought monastic culture to Europe, and to the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance. It’s been a World Heritage site since 2000. The Reichenau Museum provides an overview of the monastic island’s cultural history.
3. THE WEISSENHOF ESTATE STUTTGART
Le Corbusier’s houses
© TMBW, Gregor Lengler
© Weißenhofmuseum, Brigida Gonzalez
Who would have dreamed that the Werkbund Exhibition of 1927 in Stuttgart-Weissenhof would mark the beginning of a new epoch in architecture? Architects such as Mies van der Rohe, Gropius and Le Corbusier created an estate, the centre of Neues Bauen, which changed the way we live. Six of Le Corbusier’s houses in different places have held World Heritage status since 2016, including his family house in Stuttgart and his twin house at Weissenhof, which is a museum today.
4. MAULBRONN MONASTERY
Entirely unchanged
© TMBW
© TMBW
© TMBW
The former Cistercian monastery is one of the best-preserved monastery complexes north of the Alps. If you want to know how the monks lived in the Middle Ages, you can recreate their daily lives here. This is only one of the reasons why Maulbronn Monastery has been a World Heritage site since 1993. What’s more, the famous Maultaschen – Swabian meat-filled dumplings – are said to have been invented in the monastery.
5. THE LAKE CONSTANCE REGION
The lives of our ancestors
© TMBW
© TMBW
© TMBW
The first hunter-gatherers settled as early as the Neolithic period. You can see how the early housebuilders imagined Swabian comfort in the Lake Dwelling Museum on Lake Constance and in Upper Swabia. The lake dwellings – houses on stilts – have held World Heritage status since 2011.
6. Baden-Baden
The sources of Wellbeing
© TMBW, Düpper
© CARASANA Bäderbetriebe GmbH
If nothing else, the glamour of days gone by makes Baden-Baden special: the city at the edge of the Black Forest, with its healing springs, magnificent baths, hotels and casinos, became a significant health resort in the late 19th century. The wonderful Friedrichsbad was opened in 1877. At the turn of the 20th century, artists from all over the world recuperated here. Baden-Baden was added to the list of “Great Spa Towns in Europe” in 2021.
7. The Limes
The everyday lives of the Romans
© Stadtverwaltung Aalen | Fotograf Ulrich Sauerborn
© Stadtverwaltung Aalen, Schwäbische Alb Tourismus, Thomas Rathay
The Limes, which once formed the border of the Roman Empire, is the largest archaeological monument in Europe, and was recognized as a World Heritage site in 2005. In the Limes Museum Aalen, interested visitors can get a fantastic insight into Roman everyday life with the aid of 1,500 original finds.
