Gunzenhausen, Middle Franconia, Bavaria, Germany

🇩🇪 Gunzenhausen is a town in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl, 19 km north-west of Weißenburg in Bayern, and 45 km south-west of Nuremberg. Gunzenhausen is a nationally recognised recreation area. It is noted as being at one end of part of The Limes Germanicus, a Roman border wall, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History Numerous excavations within the city of Gunzenhausen document that the area was occupied and there was a settlement in pre-historic time. In the year 90 the Romans expelled the Celts, occupied the inhabited areas north of the Danube, and expanded into the Gunzenhausen area. In the year 241 the Alemanni invaded the area and destroyed the fortress. A document from the year 823 supplies the first reliable written reference to Gunzenhausen.

Emperor Ludwig der Fromme conveyed the monastery "Gunzinhusir" to the High-monastery of Ellwangen. Later the "Truhendinger" and the "Oettinger" families became Lords of Gunzenhausen, and in 1368 Gunzenhausen came to the House of Hohenzollern. So the city received the right of holding fairs and was allowed to build city walls, towers and moat, as well as a large church. Gunzenhausen had a big Jewish community and a "Moorish" synagogue, built in 1882; the latter had its onion domes removed and was partially converted to "profane uses" during the Hitler regime, and by 1939 the town was declared Judenrein (free of Jews).

In the 1970s eighteen municipalities were combined resulting in the city growing to about 17,000 inhabitants.

Transport The town lies on the Treuchtlingen-Würzburg railway.