3 Best Sights in The Romantic Road, Germany

Located in part of the former Benedictine Monastery of St. Mang, this baroque masterpiece dates back to the 8th century, when city patron Magnus, who spent most of his life ministering in the area, founded it. The summer presence of the bishops of Augsburg ensured that Füssen would gain an impressive number of baroque and rococo churches, and after his death, the abbey was built at the site of his grave. The museum contains one of Germany's largest collections of 17th to 19th century lutes and violins, the baroque Annakapelle (chapel), which includes frescoes of the local legend, the Füssen Totentanz. A Romanesque crypt beneath the baroque abbey church has a partially preserved 10th-century fresco, the oldest in Bavaria. In summer, chamber concerts are held in the baroque splendor of the former abbey's soaring Fürstensaal (Princes' Hall). Program details are available from the tourist office.

This elegant 18th-century city palace was built by the von Liebenhofens, a family of wealthy bankers. Schaezler was the name of a baron who married into the family. Today the palace rooms contain the Deutsche Barockgalerie (German Baroque Gallery), a major art collection that features works of the 17th and 18th centuries. The palace adjoins the former church of a Dominican monastery. A steel door behind the banquet hall leads into another world of high-vaulted ceilings, where the Staatsgalerie Altdeutsche Meister, a Bavarian state collection, highlights old-master paintings, among them a Dürer portrait of one of the Fuggers. 

The most important attraction in this museum of art, natural history, and archeology, founded in 1924, is the Löwenmensch, a 40,000-year-old figure of a half-man, half-lion found in a nearby cave. The museum illustrates centuries of development in this part of the Danube Valley. Art lovers will appreciate its collection of works by such modern artists as Kandinsky, Klee, Léger, and Lichtenstein.