Reutlingen

Reutlingen guards the narrowest street in the world: Spreuerhofstrasse, officially thirty-one centimetres at its tightest — a Guinness-certified squeeze between two houses, through which visitors sidle sideways for the photograph of record. The former free imperial city at the foot of the Achalm has grander credentials too: the Marienkirche, high-Gothic thanksgiving for surviving a thirteenth-century siege, ranks among Swabia's finest churches, and the city's stubborn independence — it joined the Reformation early and defended its liberties against Württemberg for centuries — bred a tradition of self-reliant enterprise that made it the region's textile capital. From its weaving schools grew a national institution: the economist Friedrich List, born in Reutlingen in 1789, prophet of railways and the customs union that prefigured German unity — the city keeps his memory as its great contribution to the century that followed. The textile academy and a strong technical university continue the practical lineage; the Achalm's vineyard-ringed cone offers the summarising view. Musically, Reutlingen commands unusual resources for its size: the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, a full professional symphony orchestra, makes the city its home and tours far beyond it, while the Stadthalle's modern concert facilities and the Marienkirche's church-music tradition fill the calendar.