Bamberg

Bamberg is a city in northern Bavaria whose historic centre is UNESCO-listed **in its entirety** — not one building but the whole fabric. The reason for the listing is that Bamberg **was not bombed** to any significant degree in the Second World War, so more than **2,400 historic buildings** still stand — the largest historic centre in Germany surviving without extensive reconstruction. It was built on **seven hills** like Rome, and the comparison was intended: in the eleventh century Emperor **Henry II** meant it to be a «new Rome», building the cathedral and founding the bishopric. Its most famous building is the **Old Town Hall**: a structure standing on an **artificial island in the middle of the river**, built there because the bishop refused the city land for a town hall — so the citizens made an island. Note: Bamberg has a product of its own: **Rauchbier**, a smoked beer brewed from malt dried over beechwood fire, tasting of smoked meat. The traditional breweries still operate in the city.