Roth (formerly ''Roth bei Nürnberg'') is a town in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the capital of the Roth District. It is located about 25 km south of

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

History

The town was first mentioned in documents in the year 1060, but settlements at its location date back much further. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

the town was given the right to grant

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

within the

city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

. Later this tradition attracted

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

who had to flee

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

because of religious persecution. They brought with them knowledge about the making of

wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

s and founded an industry in Roth which exists until today. It plays host to a yearly

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

festival and the Datev

Challenge Roth Challenge Roth is a triathlon race organised by in and around Roth bei Nürnberg, Bavaria, Germany. It is held annually in July. The Ironman distance (140.6 miles / 226.2 kilometers) version of the race has been held since 1990, and the short di ...

triathlon race.

Main sights

The main tourist attraction is the

Ratibor Castle Ratibor or Ratiboř may refer to: People *Ratibor (Polabian prince) (died 1043), a prince of the Obotrite confederacy from the Polabian tribe *Ratibor I, Duke of Pomerania (1124–1156), duke of the House of Pomerania (Griffins) * Ratibor II, Duke ...

, a castle built as a

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

lodge by the

Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach Margrave was originally the medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or of a kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain feudal families in the Em ...

between 1535 and 1538. After years of neglect it was sold in 1792 to Johann Philipp Stieber. After being used for nearly a century as court of justice and factory it was refurbished as residence for the Stieber family (created Barons of Stieber by

Ludwig III of Bavaria Ludwig III (Ludwig Luitpold Josef Maria Aloys Alfried; 7 January 1845 – 18 October 1921) was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918. Initially he served in the Bavarian military as a lieutenant and went on to hold the rank of Oberl ...

in 1917) between 1892 and 1916. Different styles were used to redecorate the castle varying from German Renaissance to

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

. The masterpiece of the central block of the four wing castle is the so-called "Prunksaal" with a decoration in Neo-Venetian-Baroque. The painter Ferdinand Wagner the Younger was responsible for most of the paintings in the castle. In 1942 Freifrau Minna von Stieber offered the castle to the town of Roth as a present. Today a museum, a restaurant, the municipal library and the offices and meeting rooms of the town council occupy most parts of the castle. The Protestant Church was built in the Late Gothic Style between 1511 and 1513. The older Romanesque Tower was incorporated in the building. In 1738 the church was redecorated by Johann David Steingruber in a severe Baroque Style typical for Protestant churches at that time. After the fire of 1878 a new Neo-Gothic tower was built in the middle axis of the church. Altar and other furnishings were also added during that time.

Twin towns – sister cities

Roth is twinned with: *

Opava Opava (; german: Troppau, pl, Opawa) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Opava (river), Opava. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia. It was a histori ...

, Czech Republic *

Racibórz Racibórz (german: Ratibor, cz, Ratiboř, szl, Racibōrz) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Racibórz County. With Opole, Racibórz is one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, being t ...

, Poland *

Regen Regen ( Northern Bavarian: ''Reng'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and the district town of the district of Regen. Geography Regen is situated on the great Regen River, located in the Bavarian Forest. Divisions Originally the town consisted o ...

, Germany * Xinbei (Changzhou), China

Notable people

Johann Matthias Gesner Johann Matthias Gesner (9 April 1691 – 3 August 1761) was a German classical scholar and schoolmaster. Life He was born at Roth an der Rednitz near Ansbach. His father, Johann Samuel Gesner, a pastor in Auhausen, died in 1704, leaving the fa ...

(1691–1761), classical scholar and schoolmaster *

Ralf Speth Sir Ralf Dieter Speth (born 9 September 1955) is a German automotive executive and a director of Indian company Tata Sons since 2016. From 2010 to 2020, he was the chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover. He has also had roles with BMW, Li ...

(born 1955), British-German automotive executive * Patrick Lange (born 1981), conductor

References

External links

* Roth (district) {{Roth-geo-stub