The Perlach Tower at a height of 70 meters appears almost like an Italian Campanile next to the magnificent Renaissance city hall – it's no wonder Augsburg is often called "Italy's most northern city. "The Perlach Tower significantly predates Elias Holl's city hall, which was built in 1620. The watch tower was first mentioned in a document in the 10th century. The city's famous architect and master builder brought it in line with the style of the city hall. He also raised it in order to place the alarm bells in what are called the "lanterns". They were meant to warn the citizens of fire outbreaks and threats of war. Since then, however, the bells have been replaced by chimes, which sounds over the city hall plaza four times a day: at 11 and 12 a.m. and again at 5 and 6 p.m. The melody, mostly folk songs, changes with the seasons - but it always begins with the chimes from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Magic Flute in order to mark Augsburg as the birth place of Leopold Mozart...
*This free service is provided by the City of Augsburg and the Regio Augsburg Tourist GmbH. You only pay the connection charge from your mobile phone to the German land line. The length of the audio contributions is two to three minutes. There will be no additional charge.
