Nuremberg is nearly 1000 years old: on 16 July, 1050, the freeing of a serf by the name of Sigena was documented in "Norenberc". This date of the first written mention of Nuremberg is assumed to be the day of the foundation of the city. In the Middle Ages, Nuremberg was appointed the place where each newly elected German king had to hold his first diet, and where the crown jewels of the empire were kept.
The city, dominated by the leading trading and merchant families, had its economic and cultural heyday in the late 15th and early 16th century. World-famous artists such as Albrecht Dürer and Veit Stoß, humanists such as Willibald Pirckheimer and scientists such as the astronomer Johannes Regiomontanus lived and worked in this city.
In the 19th century, Nuremberg entrepreneurial spirit triggered off a new rise in the city's fortunes: the first German railway between Nuremberg and Fürth in 1835 became a symbol for this Bavarian industrial centre.
In the 20th century, the National Socialists abused the city for their purposes. Adolf Hitler made Nuremberg "City of the Party Rallies", and it was here that the atrocious racial laws were adopted, and the main war criminals of the Nazi regime of terror were tried by the International Military Tribunal in the "Nuremberg Trials".
The city which was badly damaged by bombs during World War II, today presents itself as a successful blend of a lively past and modern present day life.
