The town that didn’t get bombed

My alarm clock jolted my body awake and shocked me out of bed. I quickly got dressed and packed my bag with an extra warm jacket and a water bottle – I was ready. The day finally came. Today I was going to visit Regensburg. I had been planning it for a while and like a spring squished down, my excitement was ready to burst. 

Normally, I wouldn’t be so excited to visit a new city, but Regensburg was special. I had heard countless times that Regensburg was absolutely stunning. Whenever I asked why, the answer was always the same: it hadn’t been bombed. And it’s true, “Regensburg was left largely unscathed by the destruction of World War 2”. And although historical buildings have been undergoing renovation efforts since the 1960’s, walking through the city center gives you an extremely accurate picture of an old German town. 

But, this isn’t the case for many German cities. Most big towns were mostly decimated by allied bombs. For example, Nürnbergs altstadt or city center was about 95% destroyed. 

As you can imagine, post Nazi-Germany was faced with a couple architectural issues.

There was the immediate problem of finding housing for the general population. After the war, homelessness loomed over the German people. To put it into perspective, “Sixteen million apartments existed before the war. By 1945, 2.5 million had been utterly destroyed, and another 4 million were damaged to the point of uselessness.” Architects and city planners had to act quickly. However, they also needed to keep something else in mind. Should the cities be rebuilt just as they had always been, or should the mass destruction of almost all of Germany be taken as an opportunity to create modern cities and infrastructure? With everyone having a different opinion, this question had to be thoroughly debated. On one side, designing modern cities with ample housing and car infrastructure was logical and could signify new beginnings after Hitler’s Nazi Regime. On the other, traditional architecture was part of German culture, something much more than the 12 years of Nazi rule. In the end, modern reconstruction mostly won out, forever changing German city planning. 

Side note: Some cities like Munich kept original street grids and rebuilt many historical buildings. It differs significantly from city to city since Germany didn’t have a centralized government until 1948/1949, meaning reconstruction was mostly organized by locals.

That is why being able to visit a city that was mostly unscathed and thus truly preserved was extremely interesting. And it didn’t disappoint. Regensburg was absolutely beautiful!

This picture I took features St. Peters Cathedral and some cool, autumn leaves. This cathedral dates back almost 750 years! If you look closely, you can see how the city is restoring and maintaining this old giant. If you ever visit, don’t miss out, the cathedral is wonderful inside as well! This picture was taken from a massive stone bridge that crosses the Danube river. Over the bridge (in the direction of the cathedral) is where the Alt Stadt begins and you can get a peak at all the incredibly old buildings.

This picture was also taken from the same stone bridge and shows what the houses and buildings look like in the city center. The many colors really pop and energize you while walking past. Why isn’t this a thing in the U.S?

This last picture doesn’t really have anything to do with the beautiful architecture, I just thought it was nice. Hope you enjoy, and thanks for making it this far!