Altstadt, Heritage monument ensemble in Iphofen, Germany

Altstadt is the walled core of Iphofen, enclosed by a 13th-century circuit of moats, walls and towers. Its centre is the Marktplatz, with the parish church of St. Veit nearby. A belt of trees marks the former division between the original town and the Gräbenviertel, the suburb incorporated around 1380.

Bishop Manegold von Neuenburg granted Iphofen city rights on 22 February 1293 and required the inhabitants to surround the new town with moats, walls and towers. The settlement was moved north to the site of an existing St. Vitus chapel. In 1323 Emperor Louis the Bavarian confirmed the city rights and a market was established, held on three church feast days.

The name Altstadt points to the historic core where daily life has always centered around the marketplace and surrounding streets. Walking through, you see how residents and visitors naturally gather in the same spaces their ancestors used for centuries.

The old town is enclosed by the largely preserved 13th-century wall and its former moat zone, so a walk along the wall line circles the whole centre. The market square sits at the middle of the walled core; the Gräbenviertel lies southwest, separated from it by a belt of trees that still marks the old dividing wall.

The old town's two-part layout survives in the tree belt that runs through the built-up area, marking the line between the walled core and the Gräbenviertel. That suburb kept its rural character and lay open until around 1380, when it was finally drawn into the town's fortifications and the dividing wall came down.