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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. Wikipedia
Sam and Joseph Twichell visited Heilbronn August 8, 1878 and is the subject of a burlesque in A Tramp Abroad
From Bædeker Southern Germany and Austria: (1891) page 17
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