Picturesque Schaffhausen on the Rhine and the Munot fortress

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Schaffhausen and the Rheinfall

Schaffhausen is a Swiss town on the Rhine near the German border. The picturesque streets of the old town are full of beautiful, colorful tenement houses. Whether in Gothic, Renaissance or Baroque style, they are all superb. There are also other attractions around. Following the Rhine, we come across the largest waterfall in Europe, the Rheinfall 🙂.

Independent city-state

For millennia, rivers have been important trade routes. However, an obstacle in the form of a waterfall forced the merchants who came here by ship to overload the goods. It was the convenient location of Schaffhausen that made the city an important trade center in the early Middle Ages. The city prospered as an independent city-state. It is also known that around 1045 it even minted its own coin.

From 1330, Schaffhausen belonged to the Habsburgs, from whom it bought its independence in 1418. In 1454, it allied with 6 other Swiss cities, and in 1501, it became a full member of the Old Swiss Confederation.

The Reformation came here in 1524. A century later, the city suffered during the Thirty Years’ War as a result of hostilities and the Swedish and Bavarian troops passing through it.

Munot Fortress

Currently, the town captivates with beautiful, well-preserved buildings of the old town. The distinctive Renaissance tenement houses are richly decorated with numerous frescoes and even sculptures. It is also worth climbing over the town to visit the 16th-century Munot Fortress that guarded it.

I must admit that Schaffhausen charmed me 🙂.

Youtube video

If interested, I invite you also to my Youtube channel. Here is a short video presenting Schaffhausen.

 

Photographs of Schaffhausen

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Carly BB