September 09, 2011

Student Blog: Josh Brumfield - Regensburg History Tour

Hello there!  :)
Today I will be sharing, in brief, the historical tour of Regensburg I took yesterday with our class. 
First stop was the Old Stone Bridge.  This bridge was built by the Romans in the 7th century.  This bridge was VERY important, as it was the only Danube bridge crossing within 1,000 miles for centuries after its construction.  It is still in regular foot traffic use today.
This is from the south end looking north into old town Regensburg.
Next was the David and Goliath mural.  This was painted in the 16th century, during the Renaissance.  It has been recolored several times since.  It was neat to see a Biblical depiction in a largely “unchurched” community.
As you can see, Goliath stands nearly three stories tall!
Our next stop was one of Regensburg’s many town squares.  This one holds the ruins of the Jewish synagogue.  Even before Hitler rose to power, antisemitism was prevalent in Germany.  The Catholic church tore down the synagogue and expelled the Jews from the downtown portion of the city several hundred years ago.  These ruins are supposed to be left in peace as a memorial, but as you can see, that’s not the case anymore.
It was sad to see the ruins of God's temple reduced to benches.
Our last stop was the NW corner of the wall the Romans built in 150AD.  During this time, an entire Roman legion (6,000) was stationed in Regensburg.  They built a thick stone wall around the city, and today this is one of the only sections that remains.  I cannot describe or even comprehend in my mind standing next to something that old.  This wall was built just over 100 years after Jesus’ ascension!  Incredible!
It is difficult to get perspective here, but the wall is about 30 feet high I think.
That is all I have time for tonight.  Tomorrow I will add in some other stops we made that were equally amazing.  In other news, three classmates and I booked our plane tickets to England and Ireland!  More details on the trip as they are solidified.  Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

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