Plan of the Imperial Palace in Bad Wimpfen/Germany I am beginning this series of photos with this sh

Plan of the Imperial Palace in Bad Wimpfen/Germany I am beginning this series of photos with this shot of a reconstructional plan of the Imperial Palace in Bad Wimpfen/Germany. Nowadays the site is a prosperous little city, towering high over the river Neckar. In 1182 Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa founded this largest imperial palace north of the Alps on the hilltop, where once an even older, celtic castle stood. In 1200 the castle was fully developed: Two towers were guarding it, and there is archaelogical evidence of a third tower between the gatehouse and the blue tower. A representative palace, not unlike the one in Gelnhausen, was located on the hillside, overlooking the Neckar. Accessible directly from the palace was a chapel with an inner balcony, reserved for the emperor alone. A third stone build house is located between the blue tower and the palace. All of these structures - with exception of the palace itself - have survived. But they are embedded into the cityscape, so a visitor has to look twice sometimes, to spot the traces left by the Hohenstaufen Dynasty. -- source link

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