Wars throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th century resulted in Freiburg being occupied by the Austrians, the French, the Swedish, the Spanish, and various German states. Much of the city, except the cathedral (the Muenster) was destroyed by bombing during World War II.
After the war, the city was rebuilt according to its medieval plan. There were a few canals in town which created nice small neighborhoods for exploring on foot. This is Gerberau along the Gewerbekanal.
No idea why there is a stone crocodile in the middle of the canal.
Freiburg is famous for little streams (Bächle) that run through the pedestrianized parts of the town. See also the town hall photo in the previous post, here. This bächle leads from the main street to the cathedral square (Münsterplatz).
The water from the bäcle was supposed to help quickly put out any fire that broke out in the city. We saw some similar water channels serving the same purpose in Takayama, Japan. Freiberg kept these bäcle when the city was rebuilt after World War II。
The Whale-House (Haus zum Walfisch)- a gothic town house built in 1500’s in the city center with a long story if you care to follow it on Wikipedia in German. This is the back of it – we have not yet figured out the origin and meaning of such a psychedelic pattern as was used here and in many other doors or window shutters in Switzerland and these parts of Europe.
Notice the pattern in the lower half of this gate, it was cleverly designed to give the illusion of extra depth in perspective and a recessed smaller gate.
Examples of decorative metal bits near the top of a nearby window.
Our guide book mentioned this figurine on the Whale house. Notice the goitre (caused by iodine deficiency) on the neck which was quite common in the Middle Ages.
Nice shopping street (Konvikstrasse) with hanging wisteria – imagine when it is blooming – must be very pretty.
The main theatre of the city – ” HEART OF THE CITY”. We wondered if the two letters were malfunctioning or switched off by design.
Freiburg is a pleasant city – we enjoyed our stay except that it was freezing cold on both days. It was supposed to be Spring.