Nördlingen - Nördlinger Mess'

The largest folk festival in northern Swabia with attractive fairground rides, beer tents, over 200 market stalls and the Ries consumer exhibition.

At the beginning of June, the traditional "Nördlinger Mess'" takes place again on the Kaiserwiese fairground. First mentioned in a document in 1219, the fair was held in the town centre until 1963. Today, the fairground on the Kaiserwiese is its site. Centuries have passed since the first Mess'. Countless people have visited the Mess', have been enchanted by its unique flair and have succumbed to its charm. A change has taken place over the last few decades. Electronics have arrived, the computer controls. But the old, tried-and-trusted is still almost unchanged today. It's this mixture that makes the difference! The Mess' has something for every group in our society, for every individual. It is one of the top events in and can even hold its own against "mega-events".

The history of the Nördlinger Mess'

The 14-day Nördlingen Whitsun Fair, which was first mentioned in a document in 1219, was one of the most important fairs in Upper Germany in the Middle Ages, with a wide catchment area in the 15th century extending as far as Alsace, the Middle Rhine and the Netherlands, as far as the Saxon and Polish lands, Linz and Vienna and beyond the Alpine passes.

One prerequisite for the successful establishment of a trade fair in Nördlingen, which then developed into the long-distance trade fair of a supra-regional nature in southern Germany, was and is the city's geographical location. Nördlingen is extremely favourably situated on the route of a major long-distance trade route from east to west as a relay station of a convenient traverse across the Alb between the Swabian and Franconian Jura in the Riese plain, on the route marked in the more distant vicinity by the royal cities of Regensburg, Donauwörth, Nördlingen, Bopfingen, Aalen and Schwäbisch Gmünd. This east-west connection is intersected in Nördlingen by a no less busy road in a north-south direction, with Augsburg and Ulm to the south and Würzburg and Nuremberg to the north as nearby destinations.

In the late Middle Ages and early modern period, the Nördlingen Fair was not only a trading centre for long-distance goods and luxury items such as books, musical instruments, glass, mirrors and spices, but also a transhipment point for grain, salt from and wine from Württemberg, pig iron products and ironware, especially from the Upper Palatinate. The Nördlingen Fair was also a major market for local craftsmen, in particular weavers of canvas, bark, loden and cloth, furriers, tanners and leather workers, who bought raw materials such as flax, wool, yarns, furs, animal skins and the important dyes and sold their finished products here; They did not need to shy away from the quality and competition of foreign products, which were also offered for sale and traded here, such as fine Brabant and medium-quality Rhenish cloth, Lombard fabrics, Bohemian cloth and even Spanish and French silks and ribbons.

In addition to the private profits of the local craftsmen, merchants and traders, as well as the still numerous innkeepers in Nördlingen, the town collected considerable sums of money during the fair in the form of staple fees - especially for salt and wine - stall fees, customs duties and all kinds of fees for the benefit of the town chamber.

Given the variety and diversity of the goods traded during the Whitsun Fair, the fair was not limited to one square or one building, but extended over a wide area of the Old Town within the ring of streets, with individual goods and merchandise concentrated in certain buildings and others in alleyways and squares.

When the interest in trade within Europe changed in the 15th/16th century following the discovery of America (1492) and other production processes and forms of distribution emerged as a result of the publishing industry, the Nördlingen Whitsun Fair increasingly lost its appeal and significance over the centuries. However, the traditional simultaneous fair, marquee and stall operation, which even today begins on the second Saturday after Whitsun and lasts for 10 days, is still very popular with young and old from near and far, with the final day of the fair being the traditional Nördlingen public holiday, the Herrenmontag.

(Source: Nördlingen town council)

Travel information:

By public transport:

- By bus - bus stop Baldingen, Würzburger Str.

By car:

- Venue: Kaiserwiese fairground

Parking facilities:

- Kaiserwiese car park (next to the festival grounds)