What to see in Fussen, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including the historic center, the Abbey of San Magno, the civic museum and Bavarian castles in the surrounding area.
Tourist information
A German town in Bavaria, Fussen is the last stop on the tourist route of the Romantic Road, Romantische Strasse, in the area of the famous Bavarian royal castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein.
This pretty town is located about 800 meters above sea level on the left bank of the Lech river, from which the Forggensee artificial lake originated, created with the aid of a dam.
Fussen was a Roman settlement on the Via Claudia Augusta, the ancient road that from Verona crossed the Alps and reached the Roman province Castra Augusta, today's city of Augusta.
During the Middle Ages and in the following centuries, the development of Fussen took place in close connection with the Benedictine Convent of San Magno, which became the pivot of religion, culture and economy of this land.
In the eighteenth century it was a very renowned center in Europe for the construction of violins.
What see
The Abbey of San Magno, founded by the Irish monk San Magno in the ninth century, was rebuilt in the twelfth century and transformed into a Baroque style in the eighteenth century, before being secularized in 1803.
In the south wing of the Abbey there is the Civic Museum of Fussen, with exhibits concerning the history of the abbey and the city, in particular the traditional production of lutes and violins.
The historic center of Fussen is dominated by the Hohes Schloss Castle, one of the most significant late Gothic fortifications in Germany, which was the summer residence of the bishops of Augsburg.
In the north wing of the castle is the Staatsgalerie, a gallery where late Gothic and Renaissance paintings and sculptures from southern Germany are exhibited.
The exhibition is worth a visit, if only to admire the splendid interiors of these apartments, which were once inhabited by the princes-bishops of Augsburg.
