So let’s begin with a question: What am I? I have a shimmering name, but I am mostly grey. At my most Easterly point a Kaiser set his court scientists the task of producing a metal after which I am named. At my most Westerly point there is a fountain adorning the marketplace in this most valuable of colours. Along my length Castles and palaces line the route like pearls, yet I am not a line, but rather an interwoven thread. Goods were carried on my dusty shoulders and in later years what I had joined for hundreds of years was cruelly separated by an iron curtain.
‘Gulden Strass’ was the official title awarded to this route and was first recorded in 1513 by the Bernauer Archivist Hans von Uttelhofen. Kaiser Charles IV- who spent his childhood in Paris with his German father and Czech mother- was able to build and establish a policed trade route between his favoured residences in Prague and Nurnberg after buying up large areas of the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) in the 14 century.
He decided upon a route, which he left policed by ‘caretakers’ through Weiden, Bärnau and Tachov, a route he himself travelled 52 times. But it wasn’t the modern businessmen who first sought to avoid the tolls that financed such routes. A second route was carved through Wernberg, Leuchtenberg, Waidhaus, and Pride, which was very soon a popular alternative, a ‘Forbidden Street’. The Golden Road was always more than just a straight line between Nurnberg, the city on the Pegnitz and the Golden City, and the established and blooming trade between Bavaria and Bohemia could not be limited to a thin line drawn between the two points, despite the best intentions of the Kaiser.
Hohenstein Castle
Life was pulsating in this important medieval trade centre with its innumerable fortified castles and houses, many craftsmen and artists, Jewish academics and tradesmen who contributed over hundreds of years to the many attributes and advantages, and created bonds between the most important towns and settlements. The travelling salesmen didn’t just limit themselves to trade directly on the route, but they included towns further afield such as Amberg, Nabburg, or Eger, not only to close lucrative business deals but to enjoy the facilities and hospitality of these places of interest. Due to this diversity and integration over many hundreds of years a distinctive culture and business heritage has developed, from the language to the kitchen, in the churches and the castles, at home and at work. We would like you to join us on the Golden Road and with the help of our guide rediscover this fascinating region. The ancient Carolingian trade route constitutes today the major route from Paris to Prague.
Away from motorways and mass tourism there are little known castles and country houses, idyllic landscape and ancient monuments, traditional church festivals and comfy local inns serving typical Bavarian/Bohemian dishes. But as the saying goes, not everything that glitters is gold- and on our travels we discover the many different faces of the region. That is the
Jugendstil-Café im Obecní Dům, dem Repräsentationshaus.
burden every traveller has to bear: if you travel the world with open eyes you will inevitably also sometimes see the less pretty side of things. That of course applies to the history of the region as well as the present day. Warring generals used the Golden Road to their own ends. Jan Hus, the protestant martyr travelled along it and was executed at the stake in Constance. Hussite partisans and catholic adversaries fought terrible battles and spread fear throughout the region. Blind ideologies created increasingly impermeable barriers between two peoples who had been so similar in temperament and so close for generations. The nationalist catastrophe of the 20th Century then tore apart what had been bound together for so many years: first through the barbarian annexation of the neighbouring countries to create the protectorates of Bohemia and Moravia and then in a counter-reaction by banishing the German Bohemians. The evidence of the damage caused in the last few centuries has yet to be removed.
The Bazis, as the residents of this region are sometimes known, are notorious in their scepticism of state authority, as parodied in the tales of ‘The Good Soldier Šwejk’ and his disrespect for Habsburgers or in the reverence shown to the folk heroes known as the Bavarian Robin Hoods, the robbers Heigl and Kneissl.
Lost villages, neglected architecture, and other sad tales have left their mark on the route as we try to discover what remains below the surface.
International organisations have taken over the restoration of dilapidated chapels, farmhouse ruins, and tumbledown townhouses. An expedition through these former border areas and Bohemian settlements is not like any organised tour by a high street travel agent, but if you are willing to take the rough with the smooth you can experience something very special.
The Reconstruction of a Cultural Landscape within Central Europe
International organisations have taken over the restoration of dilapidated chapels, farmhouse ruins, and tumbledown townhouses. An expedition through these former border areas and Bohemian settlements is not like any organised tour by a high street travel agent, but if you are willing to take the rough with the smooth you can experience something very special.
Those who are lucky enough to feel at home on both sides of the border know despite all base stereotypical comparisons that Bavaria and Bohemia are really very similar. They are as the saying goes ‘cut from the same wood’, the oak of the ancient Bohemian Forests. Bavaria and Bohemia are united in their love of beer, roast pork and dumplings, of virtuosic folk music like the quick time and the Polka, and no ‘Spitzbua’ roughly translated as a ‘cheeky chap’ can imagine a day without monkeying around, or ‘Frotzeln’.
Come with us on a journey. The following 140 pages tell of a country and the people who live there, but don’t be surprised if the pictures are not the prettiest. The humour and the authenticity will offer you unparalleled perspectives and truly golden experiences.
An author once wrote ‘No province or land in Germany is more fancy and free than that land we call Franconia’. He was called Matthäus Merian and was one of the first writers that ever wrote travel logs for the use of others following in his footsteps. He was referring to the region’s ‘Frank and Free’ nature. Kaiser Charles I promoted Franconia to the centre of his realm. In the following chapter we will be exploring the area beyond the town walls of Nuremberg and the Upper Palatinate. First stop on the road to Prague. Oberpfalz frank und frei zur Fränkischen Pfalz – erste Station auf dem Weg nach Prag.
Capital Road- New Bohemia’s Golden South
The wealth of the Upper Palatinate and Amberg with its official residence and importance at the centre of the mining industry influenced the architecture in the area greatly. Between the ‘Hammerschlösser’ (the mansions built by the aristocracy near their works) a union of the owners of the mines and iron works was established, the Hammereinigung (1387-1626), a fore-runner to the European agreements of today and a kind of mining union enabling the free trade and transport of the materials between signatories was ratified.
Golden South: From Amberg through Nabberg to the Pfreimdtal
Like a spider keeping watch over its web, Amberg is actually situated several kilometres south of the Golden Road behind its still almost complete town walls, but for the tradesmen en route, it would almost certainly have opened its gates. The detour to the residence of the Winter King is worth the trip. Upriver along the Vilstal, on which the barges carried ore to Regensburg, to Schloss Theuern the traveler will see a wealth of wonderful sights, a fascinating town, quirky facilities like a the Museum of Air, castles and some truly beautiful ancient land and river scenery.
The Right Way
It is at this stage of the journey that the Golden Road splits. The good took the ‘right’ way through Weiden and Bärnau, the bad through Wernberg and Waidhaus, which in the end proved to be the cheaper of the two. Despite the popularity of two routes the trade that Charles IV supported and promoted brought much wealth to many a town and the region in general. Majestic town halls sprang up in which the tradesmen could do business. Later during the baroque period the acanthus leaf found fame in interior architecture and decoration. The Ancient Greeks and the Romans used the motif widely, and it was ‘rediscovered’ and used in the embellishment of many an altar and church.
Stiftland, Egerland and the Fraisch
Kaiser Barbarossa made Eger the seat of his Kingdom and the surrounding area was redesigned and refurbished, creating what was to be an example to all regions under the name of Provincia Egrensis. Later as Kaiser Ludwig of Bavaria had to give up the town to his rival and successor Charles IV the region retained its importance and its own parliament until 1806 when it became a part of Bohemia.
The neighbouring Stiftland, or as it was known the ancient province of Tirschenreuth, was under the jurisdiction of Cistercian monks in Waldsassen during this time and they kept a very close contact with Egerland.
Stiftland, Egerland and the Fraisch
Kaiser Barbarossa made Eger the seat of his Kingdom and the surrounding area was redesigned and refurbished, creating what was to be an example to all regions under the name of Provincia Egrensis. Later as Kaiser Ludwig of Bavaria had to give up the town to his rival and successor Charles IV the region retained its importance and its own parliament until 1806 when it became a part of Bohemia.
The neighbouring Stiftland, or as it was known the ancient province of Tirschenreuth, was under the jurisdiction of Cistercian monks in Waldsassen during this time and they kept a very close contact with Egerland.
Stiftland, Egerland and the Fraisch
Kaiser Barbarossa made Eger the seat of his Kingdom and the surrounding area was redesigned and refurbished, creating what was to be an example to all regions under the name of Provincia Egrensis. Later as Kaiser Ludwig of Bavaria had to give up the town to his rival and successor Charles IV the region retained its importance and its own parliament until 1806 when it became a part of Bohemia.
The neighbouring Stiftland, or as it was known the ancient province of Tirschenreuth, was under the jurisdiction of Cistercian monks in Waldsassen during this time and they kept a very close contact with Egerland.
The Forbidden Street
The Kaiser ordered the use of his own official route but was also very aware of the advantages of the ‘forbidden’ option. Charles IV sent his own Imperial Regalia on the forbidden street through Waidhaus, which shows that there was indeed good reason to circumnavigate the heights of Bärnau as proved by the routing of the A6, the modern alternative to the ancient trade route, which seems to follow the unauthorised path.
burden every traveller has to bear: if you travel the world with open eyes you will inevitably also sometimes see the less pretty side of things. That of course applies to the history of the region as well as the present day. Warring generals used the Golden Road to their own ends. Jan Hus, the protestant martyr travelled along it and was executed at the stake in Constance. Hussite partisans and catholic adversaries fought terrible battles and spread fear throughout the region. Blind ideologies created increasingly impermeable barriers between two peoples who had been so similar in temperament and so close for generations. The nationalist catastrophe of the 20th Century then tore apart what had been bound together for so many years: first through the barbarian annexation of the neighbouring countries to create the protectorates of Bohemia and Moravia and then in a counter-reaction by banishing the German Bohemians. The evidence of the damage caused in the last few centuries has yet to be removed. 
