The counts' row
Eleven Renaissance counts in stone in the choir — a dynasty's full portrait.
Julian Herzog (Website) — CC BY 4.0 · Pjt56 — CC BY 4.0 · Pjt56 — CC BY 4.0 · Pjt56 — CC BY 4.0
The Stiftskirche is Stuttgart's mother church and the heart of its old town: its two unmatched towers — each its own shape and hat — have been the city's visual signature for centuries, overlooking Schillerplatz and its market. Standing since the twelfth century and Protestant since early in the Reformation, it holds a famous Renaissance series of Württemberg's counts carved in a row in the choir — a stone family portrait of an entire dynasty. War destroyed it; the rebuild gave it a deliberately modern interior that converses honestly with the old stone instead of imitating it. A short free visit at the heart of your city-centre walk: between the palace square and the covered Markthalle food market — the natural pause between the two.
Eleven Renaissance counts in stone in the choir — a dynasty's full portrait.
Each tower its own form and story — the city's centuries-old signature.
A frankly modern rebuild respecting the old stone rather than mimicking it.
Stiftstrasse 12, 70173 Stuttgart
SchillerplatzSchillerplatz is Stuttgart's oldest and prettiest square. It adjoins Schlossplat1 minute walk4.6
Stauffenberg MemorialA permanent exhibition inside the Old Castle, run by the House of History of Bad1 minute walk4.6
Old CastleThe Old Castle is a Renaissance fortress in the middle of Stuttgart, grown out o1 minute walk4.8
Junges Schloss Children's MuseumThe Junges Schloss is a children's museum inside the Old Castle in central Stutt1 minute walk4.3
Landesmuseum WürttembergThe Landesmuseum Württemberg is inside the Old Castle, a sixteenth-century fortr1 minute walk4.4It is no Cologne Cathedral and claims otherwise nothing — a beloved city church worth twenty free minutes amid a walk you are taking anyway. The counts' row alone lifts it above ordinary, and the location makes skipping harder than entering.
Schillerplatz with its morning market in front, the great palace square behind, and the covered Markthalle with its world food two minutes off — Stuttgart's whole heart in a quarter kilometre.
Late morning with the south windows lit, or for an organ evening if one falls your way — the sound in the modern space is surprisingly pure. Closed to visitors during services.