Bamberg Old Town

Founded as a bishopric in 1007 by Emperor Henry II, who dreamed of making it a second Rome, Bamberg spread across seven hills above the river Regnitz and grew into a great ecclesiastical city. Its cathedral holds the only papal grave north of the Alps — Pope Clement II — and the enigmatic medieval equestrian statue known as the Bamberg Horseman. The Old Town Hall was defiantly built in the 15th century on an artificial island in the middle of the river, legend says because the bishop refused to grant land for it, so the citizens created their own. Bamberg escaped wartime bombing almost untouched, preserving over 2,400 historic buildings, and its entire old town became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.