Sights
A defining feature of the town is the Stadtbrille (literally "town spectacles") – a bridge, originally a part of the town fortifications, whose arches reflected on the river waters resemble a pair of spectacles.
Other tourist attractions in Amberg include:
- Market Square, which contains the Gothic town hall (built in 1358) and the late-Gothic Parish Church of St. Martin
- The New Palace, the former residence of the counts of the Rhennish Palatinate, built at the beginning of the 15th century and renovated in 1603
- A well preserved section of the medieval walls and gates
- The baroque Franciscan monastery on the Hill of Our Lady Help of Christians (Germ. Mariahilfberg) above the town. This hill was given its name during the bubonic plague in the Thirty Years' War in 1633/4 when the locals beseeched the Virgin Mary to rid them of the plague.
- The 'Little Wedding House' (local German dialect Eh’häusl), claimed by town authorities to be the world's smallest hotel. Built in 1728, the 2 metre wide hotel was 'sold' to young couples for one night to circumvent laws prohibiting marriages between poor people.
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Famous quotes containing the word sights:
“You shall see men you never heard of before, whose names you don’t know,... and many other wild and noble sights before night, such as they who sit in parlors never dream of.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We can’t always have the beautiful aspect of things. Let us make the most of our sights that are beautiful and let the others go”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls. We are blind to the real sights of this world; deaf to its voice; and dead to its death. And not till we know, that one grief outweighs ten thousand joys will we become what Christianity is striving to make us.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)