Villingen-Schwenningen, which is to be found in the south of Baden-Württemberg, is the largest city of the Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis. It lies on the eastern periphery of the stunningly beautiful (and world famous) Black Forest (Schwarzwald), about 700 meters above sea level.
The city’s history, which takes pleasure in a range of industries, goes back as far as to the year 817. Villingen was a town under Austrian lordship in the Middle Ages and throughout the Protestant Reformation, it stayed put as Catholic. It hogged limelight when overwhelmed by marshal Tallard in 1704. Schwenningen lingered as a village until the 19th century.
The first watch factory was set up in 1858. Both the towns, Villingen and Schwenningen were combined by the part of the Baden-Württemberg territorial reform of 1972. At the time of the merging, a number of surrounding villages were taken together to form the city of Villingen-Schwenningen.
The two halves of the town however are estranged by a flat terrain or plateau. The town enjoys a type of status in a range of industries and specially well-known for its cuckoo clocks which are manufactured here.
Not only for the watches, it is even fairly trendy for its way of living. In this twin town, you could get to the other part in about 10 minutes by car or train or 20 minutes by bus.
The German Clock Route, which starts and ends at Villingen-Schwenningen, is a spherical tour of discovery. This route runs in the region of 300 km (186 mi) in the course of the most good-looking and scenic parts of the Black Forest and Baar holiday regions.
Few of the places which feature along the route are Rottweil, Waldkirch and Titisee-Neustadt. The route, which could be the ideal introduction to the Black Forest clock making convention, boasts of some captivating museums and places of interest all along its length. Clock industrial units, workshops and clock face painting studios all present a revealing insight into their daily work.
Villingen-Schwenningen offers a number of places of interest to look out for. The Town Wall and the Municipal Art Gallery are places to spend some time in. Museums, as the Franziskaner Museum and the Schwenningen Clock Museum are accepted world wide.
The Minster of Our Lady is yet another significant building in the city. If you’re an art lover, and take a special interest in theater works, the Theater am Ring is there to quench your desire.
The Wanne Observation Tower, an elevated tower right in middle of the city, comes among the oldest towers built of iron.
