When modern day moviemakers of Hollywood make period pieces of days of the Middle Ages and Renaissance Europe they must use Lohr as their muse.
Lohr am Main is a land of fairytale castles, tall foreboding towers, and stunning churches for the devout in the countryside of Bavaria. The town’s center is filled with many half timbered buildings built in the 16th and 17th centuries and squares decorated with sandstone fountains. There are small shops, bistros, and the chance for beer and wine sampling.
Much of the surrounding forest is protected and offers many hiking and cycling trails for everyone of all ages and fitness levels to enjoy.
Lohr makes great use of the fantasyland that is their history. Though touristy, here’s where you’ll have your very own Lohrer Bakery Master dressed in period garb taking you around town for life in the 17th century. Not completely romanticized, this tour touches on the dark days of witch hunts that were prevalent at the time.
Life was hard here a few centuries ago, but for the aristocracy they didn’t have it as bad off as the rest. If you follow “Countess Margarethe,” wife of the last Lohr count, she’ll give you a guided tour of the castle and a history of Renaissance life. The castle, built in the mid 1300’s, also doubles as the town’s history museum, though the moat is gone today.
Over the course of several centuries from the Middle Ages until 1933, the night watchman made his daily rounds securing the city. Today, you can follow the night watchman for a guided nighttime tour around town.
A view from the Bavarian Tower in the center of town will give you a wonderful birds-eye view around town and the background mountains since it stands some 40 meters high. Built in the 14th century, it’s the last of the towers that were attached to the Stadtmauer (or fortification walls) that surrounded the original town. These embankment walls once stood some 6 meters (around 18 feet) high and while most of the walls no longer stand some pieces still remain around town.
The Bavarian Tower (Bayersturm) also overlooks the pilgrimage church and monastery of Maria Buchen (built in 1395) as well as the 13th century Parish Church Michael whose tower stand some 62 meters — standing on 9th century foundations.
The Valentinuskapelle was rebuilt in 1660, as it was destroyed in the Thirty Years’ War. The religious, thinking the town was spared the plague by praying here, now celebrate August 16 with a procession dedicated to the town’s patron saint.
Lohr am Main knows it has something special here and makes the most of its historical town, especially with the theatrical guided tours available around town. Many of us through the modern medium of movies and television are able to see a fantasy world in medieval times and Renaissance life, Lohr lives it!
