Frauenkirche, Nuremberg

Frauenkirche, Nuremberg tickets: which one to buy

The Frauenkirche closes the eastern side of the main market square in Nuremberg and is free to enter. Nothing needs booking. The one thing to plan around is noon, when the clock on the front performs its mechanical procession and a crowd gathers below; arrive ten minutes early for a view. Walking tours of the old town include the church along with the castle, the artisans' courtyard and the two larger medieval churches, and tours dealing with the city's twentieth-century history run separately to the rally grounds and the courtroom, which is a different and necessary day.

The Christmas market that fills the square from late November uses the church front as its backdrop and effectively takes over the approach. Outside that season the square holds a daily produce market. The building is small by the standards of Nuremberg's churches and half an hour covers it. Market traders pack up by mid-afternoon, which is when the square is easiest to photograph.

Visiting Frauenkirche, Nuremberg: what to see

Charles IV ordered the church built between 1352 and 1362, on ground cleared by the destruction of the city's Jewish quarter and its synagogue in the pogrom of 1349, a fact the church now acknowledges and which is marked on the square. It was intended as an imperial chapel, and the balcony on the front was built so that the imperial regalia could be displayed to crowds below. The clock above it, added in 1509, shows seven electors circling the seated emperor once a day at noon, a mechanism the locals call the little men running.

Inside, the church is a hall of three aisles under one roof, restrained after the Reformation and restored after heavy bombing in the Second World War. The best surviving objects are the carved Tucher altarpiece of about 1440 and a set of late Gothic sculptures brought here from other churches that did not survive. A memorial on the square records the medieval Jewish community whose quarter stood here before the church.

Frauenkirche, Nuremberg opening hours and the best time to go

Noon is the fixed point, for the clock. Beyond that, mornings are quiet and the market outside is working. The Christmas market runs from the Friday before Advent to Christmas Eve and is among the oldest and most visited in Germany, which means the square is a solid crowd from midday onwards through December; go in the first hour after it opens. Summer brings a mixture of coach groups and a lively outdoor cafe scene along the river.

The church closes for services. Nuremberg is compact, and the castle, the Durer house and the national museum are all within twenty minutes on foot. The documentation centre at the former rally grounds needs a tram ride and half a day. Allow thirty minutes inside the church, plus the wait for the clock. The fountain at the other end of the square has a brass ring set into its railing that visitors turn for luck.