Gmünd

Gmünd, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Württemberg,1 in a charming and fruitful valley on the Rems, here spanned by a beautiful bridge, 31 m. E.N.E. of Stuttgart on the railway to Nördlingen. Pop. (1905) 18,699. It is surrounded by old walls, flanked with towers, and has a considerable number of ancient buildings, among which are the fine church of the Holy Cross; St John’s church, which dates from the time of the Hohenstaufen; and, situated on a height near the town, partly hewn out of the rock, the pilgrimage church of the Saviour. Among the modern buildings are the gymnasium, the drawing and trade schools, the Roman Catholic seminary, the town hall and the industrial art museum. Clocks and watches are manufactured here and also other articles of silver, while the town has a considerable trade in corn, hops and fruit. The scenery in the neighbourhood is very beautiful, near the town being the district called Little Switzerland.

Gmünd was surrounded by walls in the beginning of the 12th century by Duke Frederick of Swabia. It received town rights from Frederick Barbarossa, and after the extinction of the Hohenstaufen became a free imperial town. It retained its independence till 1803, when it came into the possession of Württemberg. Gmünd is the birth-place of the painter Hans Baldung (1475-1545) and of the architect Heinrich Arler or Parler (fl. 1350). In the middle ages the population was about 10,000.

See Kaiser, Gmünd und seine Umgebung (1888).

* * *

1 There are two places of this name in Austria. (1) Gmünd, a town in Lower Austria, containing a palace belonging to the imperial family, (2) a town in Carinthia, with a beautiful Gothic church and some interesting ruins.

* * *