IRON MADONNA OF NUREMBERG

With its outward appearance unchanged, Nuremberg looks today just as it did centuries ago when the "Iron Virgin" was the famous instrument of torture. In the Middle Ages, Nuremberg was the foremost of the Free Imperial cities, and rose to its highest heights in the period of the Renaissance. One of its most famous sons was Albrecht Durer. Artists such as Albrecht Durer, Hans Sachs the poet, and two great sculptors, Adam Kraft and Peter Visher, also lived here; and Peter Henlein made the first watch in 1590, known historically as the "Nuremberg egg."