Ansbach, Capital city district in Middle Franconia, Germany
This district capital sits on the banks of the Fränkische Rezat in Middle Franconia, surrounded by gentle hills and farmland. The old town clusters around the palace and collegiate church, while newer residential neighborhoods and commercial zones spread across the surrounding slopes.
A Benedictine monastery arose here in the 8th century and gave the settlement its first structures. From 1331 onward the Hohenzollern family chose this location as the residence of their Franconian branch and developed it into a political center.
The name comes from Onolzbach, the old designation referring to the small river that flows through the center and still appears in some archival documents. On warm days locals gather in the beer gardens near the court park, one of the earliest landscape gardens laid out in continental Europe.
The railway station lies south of the old town and connects the city with Nuremberg and Crailsheim through regular regional trains. Pedestrians reach the center from the station in about ten minutes, while cycle paths along the riverbank offer a quiet route.
The parish church of St. Gumbertus houses a late Gothic altar from the 15th century dedicated to the Order of the Swan, one of the few surviving artifacts of this mysterious knightly order. In the sacristy the original coats of arms of the order members still hang on the walls.
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