Villingen, founded by the Zähringers

 

Villingen is a part of the district town of the Schwarzwald-Baar district Villingen-Schwenningen. Villingen is located at the source of the Danube river Brigach, at the eastern exit of the Black Forest, which gradually descends from here to the plateau Baar.

Villingen was first mentioned in documents as early as 817. Later, around 1119, the Zähringers under Berthold II began a new development of the right bank of the river Brigach. Until then, only the left bank had been settled. Now, however, the Zähringers created a fortified city with two oval walls, completed in 1250, and a moat in between, as well as a center with the characteristic street cross. Of particular architectural value are the early Gothic cathedral and the town hall, built around 1534, which contains a museum of the town's history. Of the two fortifications, the inner wall is still preserved. This includes three still intact city gates and several towers.

The Liebfrauenmünster church was built from 1130 to 1293. In 1271 the works had to be interrupted because of a town fire.

Villingen is known not only for its well-preserved town center, but furthermore for the Franciscan Museum, also a historic building near the Riedtor gate, where a Celtic burial site bears witness to the earliest settlement in the Black Forest around the sixth century BC.

Villingen has a legendary hero, called Romaeus (originally Romeias), after whom one of the towers in the old town is named. Unfortunately, however, it bears the name because Romaeus is said to have been once imprisoned in it. And this, although he performed several heroic deeds for Villingen, the most important of which was the theft of a city gate from Rottweil, which Romaeus could carry with one hand due to his considerable height. This scene is immortalized on the outer wall of the Romaeus Tower. Stupidly for the people of Villingen, he managed to escape from the tower. They threw an animal into his dungeon every day so that he would have something to eat. He took the bones from it and stuck them into the cracks of the masonry in order to climb out of the dungeon by them. Since he besieged Kusenberg Castle during his escape from Villingen and received a ransom, the people of Villingen took him in after all.

That the people of Villingen were not exactly squeamish with their neighbors is also shown by the relationship with the monastery of St. Georgen, which was completely destroyed by the people of Villingen. It should be said that Rottweil is much older than Villingen, namely almost a thousand years. It was founded by the Romans already in the year 74 after Christ.

In 1972, Villingen and Schwenningen were merged into one municipality, which has since then also been the district capital. The watershed between the Rhine and the Danube runs between the two sub-communities, with the Neckar rising near Schwenningen.