Nordlingen, the city inside the crater

Bavaria is one of the 16 Landers in Germany; it’s the largest with over 70000 km2 and the second by population with its 12,5 million inhabitants. It’s situated at the far south of the nation bordering Austria, Switzerland and the Republic Czech.

Its territory is rich in natural beauties such as the Bavarian Alps, the Prealps and the great river Danube; as well as interesting cities to visit as the capital of Lander Munich, Nuremberg and Inglostadt overlooking the banks of the great river.

To the north of the Danube on the “romantic road”, one of the most popular tourist routes in Germany, there is a pretty medieval little town of almost 20000 inhabitants, with a fascinating ultramillary history: Nordlingen.

Nordlingen has a singular “geographical” feature that attracts curious tourists all over the world… It’s located inside the Nordlinger Ries crater. 15 million years ago, the fall of a meteorite with a diameter of about 1500 meters created it… one of the largest craters on our planet…

You must know that this monstrous meteorite, at the time of impact with the earth, traveled about 720000 km/h, equivalent to 20 km per second! This absolutely overwhelming speed allowed the celestial body to penetrate the earth’s crust for nearly a kilometer!

The first official document talking about Nordlingen dates back to 898; it mentions it as a “Royal Court”. Today the town has maintained its medieval identity with walls and fortifications typical of that time. The imposing circle of walls surrounds the historic center, it’s possible for the joy of tourists, to walk on foot over walls, in the “path of guard”

This striking territorial location has been the set of the final scene: the flying elevator, of the famous movie of  Mel Stuart  “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”

And then… in recent years… the unique Nordlingen has become famous also in Japan, because the imaginative comic bookmaker Hajime Isayama chose it as an environment of his manga “The attack of Giants”.

T H E   V I D E O

(All the photos are taken from Google.com, all the videos are taken from YouTube.com, and all belong to their original owners-We do not own any of the content posted-Removal upon request)