Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: half-timbered houses

Bretten is a picturesque little city with a medieval old center. It is located in the Kraichgau and surrounded by the hills of the Odenwald and Schwarzwald. The nobleman Wigilo gave in the year of 767 a piece of land to the Lorsch Monastery under the name of “villa breteheim”. This was entered into the codex of the monastery and is considered being the first time the name of Bretten was officially mentioned. Since 1148 Bretten had the right to mint and issue coins and in 1254 it received city rights. The heart of the city is the market square, which is surrounded by half-timbered houses, dating back from the early 18th century. The Melanchthonhaus (Melanchthon’s House) – PiP2 - is also standing on the market square. This imposing reddish neo-gothic building was built in 1897 - erected as a memorial on the 400th anniversary of the birth - on the place of the birth house of Philipp Melanchthon, which was burnt down in the devastating fire of 1689. It hosts the second biggest exposition in Germany dedicated to the Reformation. (Melanchthon was one of the most important figures of the Reformation, a man of great erudition, a scholar, a theologian, an educator and one of Martin Luther’s close personal friends.)

Franconian Switzerland ( Fränkische Schweiz ) is a well known tourist area between the cities of Nürnberg, Bayreuth and Bamberg. The region is a natural wonderland featuring soft rolling forested hills, steep cliffs and green river valleys. It is a backdrop for medieval castles, monasteries, churches and quaint villages with half-timbered houses. One of the most picturesque villages is (at least for me) Tüchersfeld, where it looks if the houses are dropped at random at the rocky pinnacles. Until the Thirty Years' War (1618 – 1648) there were even two castles in the village, the Upper and Lower Castle. From the Upper Tüchersfeld Castle only a view remains have survived. The Lower Castle was destroyed and rebuilt several times, till it was completely destroyed in 1691. Around 1700 a Jewish settlement was established in the remaining ruins. The Jewish settlement was destroyed by fire in 1758, but the remains of the old buildings were included in the newly constructed buildings. Till around 1870 Jewish families lived in Tüchersfeld. In 1959 the remaining buildings, known as the "Jew's Court" ( Judenhof , were bought by a private person and after a complete restoration it now houses the Franconian Switzerland Museum ( Fränkische Schweiz-Museum ).

Idstein is nestled in the soft rolling hills of the Taunus Mountains. The city - granted city and market rights in 1287 by King Rudolph of Habsburg - dates back at least to the year of 1102, when the name first appeared in a court document, involving Udalrich and Konrad von Etichestein. Count Udalrich was succeeded in Idstein by the counts of Laurenburg, relatives of the archbishop of Mainz, who gave Idstein castle to them. From the middle of the 12th century, the Laurenburg family named themselves after the castle of Nassau. During this period the city became attached to Nassau and remained so until 1866. Besides the former castle complex and the beautiful Union Church ( www.ipernity.com/doc/294067/47426278 ) Idstein has a mediaeval town centre ( Altstadt ) with about 200 timber framed buildings. The oldest remaining house (Obergasse 2) was originally built around 1410. Many of the houses date from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The two main squares - König-Adolf-Platz (PiP 1) and Marktplatz - and nearby streets are lined with numerous timber framed houses (PiP 3 and 4 ). The most magnificent and richly decorated house is the Killingerhaus (PiP 2, the central house ), built in 1615 by town clerk Johann Conrad Killing. Another remarkable building is the Crooked House (main picture). This Schiefes Haus was built in 1725 as a four storey house. Idstein is part of the German Timber-Frame Road ( Deutsche Fachwerkstraße ), connecting towns with timber framed buildings.