Nuremberg ("nourenberg" - rocky hill) officially commences in 1050, with the release of the bondswoman Sigena from serfdom, an imperial document issued by emperor Henry III. South of the castle an irregular settlement grew up. As a center of long distance trade and crafts Nuremberg flourished, charity foundations were established and the wealth provided a fantastic climate for the arts. Emperor Charles IV, who spent several months at a time in Nuremberg, decreed in the so-called "Golden Bull" in 1356 that each newly elected German emperor should hold his first Imperial Diet in Nuremberg.

In 1424 Nuremberg was designated as the location for the safe-keeping of the Imperial jewels. The Free Imperial City was at it's zenith. This European metropolis developed to a center of German humanistic (Celtis, Pirckheimer, Schedel) sciences, arts and sculpture. Martin Behaim designd the first globe, Peter Henlein invented the first pocket watch, the publisher and printer Koberger employed up to 100 people at a time, and with Hans Sachs and Hans Rosenplüt, the poetry of the Meistersingers reached it's peak. Works of art of highest European level were created by the wood carver Veit Stoß, the sculptor Adam Kraft, the Vischer's, a brass founder family and the painter Albrecht Dürer.

The city, with 40,000 citizens at that time, fell into decline after the thirty year war and with the discovery of new trade routes by sea way . This lasted until the industrial age when the first German train drove from Nuremberg to Fuerth. In 1945 the "Deutschen Reiches Schaftzkästlein" (the Treasure Chest of the German Empire) was reduced to rubble. The rebuilding program was massive and lasted a long time.

Nowadays, however, it is quite possible again to imagine the importance and power of this former "Capital of the Middle Ages": Centrally located, In the heart of this city with half a million citizens, there still remains impressive churches, the imperial castle and a five-kilometer wall encircling the old town.