Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is surrounded by Heilbronn District and, with approximately 123,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state.
The city on the Neckar is a former Imperial Free City and is the seat of Heilbronn District. Heilbronn is also the economic center of the Heilbronn-Franken region that includes most of northeast Baden-Württemberg. Furthermore, Heilbronn is known for its wine industry and is nicknamed Käthchenstadt, after Heinrich von Kleist's Das Käthchen von Heilbronn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heilbronn
Sam and Joseph Twichell visited Heilbronn August 8, 1878 and is the subject of a burlesque in A Tramp Abroad
Heilbronn, formerly a free city of the Empire, now an important industrial town with 29,939 inhab. , is charmingly situated on both banks of the Neckar. The Allee, a pleasant avenue on the site of the old fortifications, encircles the old town, beyond which suburbs are springing up in every direction .
On our left, as we leave the station, is the Custom House with the Wilhelms-Canal; farther on are the Winterhafen and Holzhafen. From the Bahnhof - Str. we enter the town by a broad iron bridge.
On the right bank, on our right, is the handsome new Post Office (Pl . B, 3 ). In the next side-street to the right is the Historical Museum (Pl. 5 ; B , 3) , comprising pre-historic and other antiquities from the environs of Heilbronn.
Going straight on, we come to the Market-Place. On the left rises the late- Gothic Rathhaus (Pl . 13 ; B , C , 3) , with its lofty flight of steps , containing a curious clock constructed by Habrecht in 1580. In the council- chamber Götz von Berlichingen , immortalised by Goethe, is said to have effectually cured headache, toothache , and every other human malady', with blows from his “iron hand' . Letters from him, from Franz von Sickingen, the Reformer, from Schiller, who prays for the protection of the town in 1793, and others are shown in the Archives. The old - fashioned house at the S.W. corner of the Market (Pl . 6 ; B , 3) is pointed out as that in which " Käthchen of Heilbronn' was born ; but her history is purely traditionary.
The * Church of St. Kilian (Pl . 9 ; C, 3) , originally an early Gothic edifice founded in 1013, of which the nave , with pointed arcades , is the only remnant, was rebuilt in the late-Gothic style in the 15th cent . , and the tower, 217 ft. in height, was completed in 1529 in the Renaissance style . (The whole building is now under going restoration . ) The choir (1480) , with richly articulated pillars and network- vaulting, contains an * Altar -piece in carved wood, by Tilmann Riemenschneider (1498) , and a fine ciborium . The adjoining Clara- Strasse contains handsome new buildings.
We descend the Kirchbrunner- Str. to the right, and enter the Deutschhof- Str. to the left, to see the Deutsches Haus (Pl . 2 ; B , 4), originally an imperial palace , afterwards occupied by the Teutonic Order, and now by the courts of law . The Treaty of Heilbronn was concluded here in 1633. The oldest part of the building is the lowest story , in the Romanesque style, of the tower of the adjacent Roman Catholic church . The court on the N. side is picturesque . Opposite is the old Schönthaler Hof (now Restaurant zum Deutschen Hause,see above ), where, as a quaint inscription on the gate way (right side) records, Charles V. once spent six weeks and was cured of an illness by the IIeilbronn waters .
Nearly opposite the Deutsches Haus is the Allerheiligen – Str., leading to the square red Diebsthurm or Götzens Thurm (Pl . 3 ; B , 4) , in which Goethe, contrary to the fact , represents Götz von Berlichingen as having died (whereas he was only imprisoned here for one night in 1519 ; comp. p . 19) . To the E. of the tower we ascend the Rosenberger- Str. to the Allee ( see above) , in which, on the right, rises the Synagogue ( Pl. 14 ; C , 4) , in the Moorish -Byzantine style . Farther on is the Harmonie -Gebäude (Pl . C, D , 3) , containing the exhibition of the Kunstverein . Near it are the large Prison (Pl . D, 5) and the New Gymnasium.
From the N. end of the Allee the Thurm - Str. leads W. to the Sülmer- Str. Here , on the left, rises the simple Gothic Church of St. Nicholas (Pl . 10), where the first Protestant divine service was held in 1525. The Schiller - Haus opposite was occupied by the poet in 1793-94 . Farther on, in the Hafenmarkt, are remains of the Franciscan Church (Pl . 7 ) , destroyed by the French in 1688. The tower and the cloisters of the old monastery ( now a school) are well preserved .
The pretty Cemetery contains several interesting tombstones. The Water Works, with steam -pump and reservoir , at the base of the Wartberg, should by seen by engineers.
On the Wartberg, rising 522 ft. above the Neckar (ascent 3/4 hr.), are an old watch -tower and an inn . Charming view of the Neckarthal . Another fine point is the (1 hr.) Jägerhaus ( * Tavern ). From the Jägerhaus we may walk past the Köpferquelle and through wood to the tower on the Schweinsberg (816 ft . ; 11/2-2 hrs. from Heilbronn ), which affords a fine * Panorama, embracing the Alb chain to the S. , the Black Forest and Vosges to the S.W.• ܕ, the Haardt Mts . and Donnersberg to the W. , the Odenwald and Spessart to the N. , and the Löwenstein Mts . to the E. The Cäcilienwiese (11/2 M. ) presents a lively and picturesque scene at the vintage season. Another favourite point is the Trappensee (*Restaur.), 11/2 M. to the E , of the town