Schwangau is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

in the district of

Ostallgäu Ostallgäu is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Oberallgäu, Unterallgäu, Augsburg, Landsberg, Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and by the Au ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. The village lies 4 km from the larger town of

Füssen Füssen is a town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu, situated one kilometre from the Austrian border. The town is known for violin manufacturing and as the closest transportation hub for the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau c ...

and just 1.5 km from

Hohenschwangau Hohenschwangau is a former village and now an urban district of the municipality of Schwangau, Ostallgäu district, Bavaria, Germany. It is located between Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau and is visited by about 2 million peo ...

, a collection of tourist-oriented facilities adjacent to the major tourist attractions of Schloss Neuschwanstein and

Schloss Hohenschwangau Hohenschwangau Castle (german: Schloss Hohenschwangau) is a 19th-century palace in southern Germany. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. It is located in the G ...

. Schwangau has no railway station, but is served by

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es connecting to Füssen, Hohenschwangau, and other nearby Alpine towns. It is the next-to-last town on the

Romantic Road The Romantic Road (german: Romantische Straße) is a "theme route" devised by promotion-minded travel agents in the 1950s. It describes the of surface roads between Würzburg and Füssen in southern Germany, specifically in Bavaria and Baden-Wü ...

tourist route that terminates in Füssen. A ''castrum Swangowe'' is attested in 1090. It was situated on the site of Neuschwanstein Castle and was owned by the

Elder House of Welf An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority. Elder or elders may refer to: Positions Administrative * Elder (administrative title), a position of authority Cultural * North American Indigenous elder, a person who has and t ...

. After the death of Welf VI in 1191, it fell to the Staufer dynasty, and in 1268 to the empire. The modern coat of arms is based on the one shown in the

Codex Manesse The Codex Manesse (also Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift or Pariser Handschrift) is a ''Liederhandschrift'' (manuscript containing songs), the single most comprehensive source of Middle High German ''Minnesang'' poetry, written and illustrat ...

as that of Hiltbolt of Schwangau (d. 1256), gules, a swan argent. In the USA, the name "Swango" can be found. Presumably the name is descended from Swangowe, but possible genetic origins in a northern Italian family named Paumgarten or Baumgarten who bought the right to use the name from the Bavarian State after the death of Hiltbolt of Schwangau..

Gallery

File:Castle_Neuschwanstein.jpg,

Neuschwanstein Neuschwanstein Castle (german: Schloss Neuschwanstein, , Southern Bavarian: ''Schloss Neischwanstoa'') is a 19th-century historicist palace on a rugged hill above the village of Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwest Bavaria, Germany. The ...

File:Schwangau-3.jpg, mountains

Tegelberg Tegelberg is a mountain of Bavaria, Germany. It is a part of the Ammergau Alps. The nearest town is Füssen. Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle are about 2 km away. The Tegelberg has been a hang gliding area since the 1970s and ...

and Säuling,

Zugspitze The Zugspitze (), at above sea level, is the highest peak of the Wetterstein Mountains as well as the highest mountain in Germany. It lies south of the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and the Austria–Germany border runs over its western su ...

in South.

References

Ostallgäu {{Ostallgäu-geo-stub