1. Marktplatz 6. Birthplace of Hermann Hesse. On Monday, July 2, 1877 at 6.30 p.m. he was born in the right hand side flat of the second floor. The house at the time was the living- and business-premises of Emil Dreiß (1830 - 1880), in 1882 it became the textile shop of Traugott Schiler (1855 - 1919), later the textile shop of Friedrich Daur and today it is the home of Schaber fashions. Hesse`s parents Johannes and Maria, lived here from their marriage in 1874 on until they and their children moved to Basel in 1881. Johannes Hesse worked from 1873 to 1881 together with Hermann Gundert, for the Calwer Publishing Company. Hesse was christened here in this family flat on August 3, 1877 by his grandfather Gundert. Hesse`s elder sister Adele was also born in this flat on August 15, 1875, as were his younger brother and sisters: Paul (born July 14, 1878, died December 17, 1878), Gertrud (born August 6, 1879, died March 13, 1880) and Marie, known as Marulla (born November 27, 1880) who was also christened here on December 28, 1880.

2. Marktplatz: Rathaus. The town hall was originally built in 1454. After destruction in 1636 it was rebuilt in 1672. After it again being destroyed in 1692 the present building was erected between 1726 and 1730. The facade was newly renovated in 1929. The area beneath the arches of the town hall was used, especially by butchers and bakers, as the town market.
In 1586 two large fountains were built in the market square in front of the town hall at the focal points of an ellipse. These fountains are decorated with the heraldic lion of Calw and the coats of arms of Calw and Württemberg.
The town hall and market hall are mentioned in Hesse`s books "Eine Fußreise im Herbst" and "Schön ist die Jugend".

3. Salzgasse: Salzkasten. Built in 1696 the building became known in 1722 according to its function as the Salt House (dealing in salt was municipal privilege). During Hesse`s school years one class of the High School was housed here. The Salzgasse is the "Hirschgasse" in Hesse`s story "Die Verlobung", which recalls the engagement of his parents.

4. Kirchplatz 3: The corner between Schulgasse and Zwinger. Once the principal`s office of the Lyceum, the Calw high school, of which Hesse was a pupil from July 1886 until February 1890. Hesse began in second grade which was taught at that time in the town hall. Amongst others, the books "Demian", "The Glass Bead Game", and espacially "Beneath the Wheel" deal with Hesse`s school experiences. Between 1871 and July 1872 Hesse`s mother, he first female teacher in a secondary school in Württemberg, taught English in the advanced class.

5. Marktplatz: The Church. First mentioned in 1262. After destructions in 1634 and 1692, the Church was rebuilt in 1700 on the original foundations with a b.ellshaped tower. After various alterations it was partly demolished and reconstructed with a steeple in 1888. This Protestant Church is mentioned in several of Hesse`s works e.g. "Aus Kinderzeiten", "Eine Fußreise im Herbst", "Schön ist die Jugend", "Die Verlobung", "Kinderseele".

6. Marktplatz 16: Deanery. From 1698 on seat of the Protestant dean. In his book "Vierter Lebenslauf des Josef Knecht", which was first published in 1965, Hesse describes this house as a "special part" of the administration of the religous order ("Spezialat").

7. Marktplatz 30: Schüz House. Built in 1833 by the building director R. F. H. Fischer of the ducal court to replace the 16th. century high school and later the town advocate`s office. In 1982 this became the site of the Calw Gallery, and since 1990 the Hermann Hesse Museum is also housed here.

8. Inselgasse. Between the River Nagold and a tributary, over which a road has since been built, was once an island. On this island was the Schill and Wagner Blanket Factory which, in 1895, became the United Blanket and Textile Mills as they stand today. Italians who found work building the railway in 1870 were housed here. (See Hesse`s story "Hans Dierlamms Lehrzeit"). On July 1, 1895 a whirlwind raged here which Hesse described in "Der Zyklon".

9. Brühl: The festival- and play-ground of the town was once adorned with three rows of linden trees. This area plays a part in "Der Lateinschüler", "Eine Fußreise im Herbst" and, above all, in "Der Zyklon" as being "quiet and forgotten".

10. Hirsauer Straße: Cemetery. This has been the graveyard of Calw since 1618. Next to the lower wall is the communal grave of the Schill family. Members of the Hesse and the Gundert families, which were related by marriage to the Schills, are also buried in this grave: Hesse`s mother Marie, nee Gundert the widow Mr. Isenberg, 18.10.1842 - 24.4.1902; his maternal grandfather Hermann Gundert, PhD (missionary in East India (1836 - 1859), 4.2.1814 - 24.4.1893; Hesse`s maternal grandmother Julie Gundert, nee Dubois, 1.10.1809 - 18.9.1855; his great-aunt, Uranie Dubois, 15.1.1806 - 15.1.1885, who lived in Calw from 1872 on; Friedrich Gundert, 7. 03.1847 - 15.7.1925 and Emma Gundert, nee Herrmann, 4.7.1848 - 1.10.1918, Hesse`s uncle and aunt. His aunt was a member of the Schill family.

11. Bischofstraße 70: Badischer Hof. This public house was renovated, extended and a 9-pin bowling-alley added by Georg Thudium (1854 - 1892) in 1870. The assembly room became renown in the town as a place for meetings and lectures. The pub is mentioned in "Eine Fußreise im Herbst" as the "Schwäbischer Hof am Brühl" and in "Die Heimkehr" as the "Bayerischer Hof".

12. Bischofstraße 52: Stone House. This house was built in 1694 in the style of South Tyrol by the theologist and preceptor of the Calw High School, Johann Martin Schill (1675 - 1751). Christoph Friedrich Oetinger, who spent a lot of time in Schill`s house during his years in Hirsau, referred to him in his autobiography as "an unusual man. His life revolved around God, he was introverted and followed the impressions of his soul". Hesse`s uncle, Friedrich Gundert, managing director of the Calw Publishing Companay and leader of the Calw Church Choir, was a great admirer of Johann Sebastian Bach. On his marriage to Emma Heermann, last heir to the Schill house, one of the oldest and nicest houses in the town became a house of music. The Stone House is the main scene of events in "Schön ist die Jugend" and "Herr Claaßen".

13. Bischofstraße 48: Vischer House. Built between 1787 and 1791 by the building director of the ducal court R. F. H. Fischer for the Raft- and Timber company.It was the birthplace of Emilie Vischer (1799 - 1881) who later became the wife of the poet Ludwig Uhland (1787 - 1862). This was Calw`s commemoration centre to Hesse 1964 to 1990. It is still the home of the town`s archives.

14. Weinsteg. This bridge over the River Nagold was given the name of "Wine Footbridge" as far back as the Middle Ages. The bridge, which was replaced in 1863 by a narrow iron construction, plays a part in the chase after Polly, the escaped parrot in "Aus Kinderzeiten".

15. Lederstraße 32: Andreä House. This was originally the wool-store of the Calw Trading Company. Later on it became the Protestant Community House and was named after Johann Valentin Andreä (1587 - 1654), Dean of Calw and later court preacher in Stuttgart. Opposite here, in the Biergasse, Hermann Hesse`s brother Hans became an apprentice salesman to Johann Hinderer in October 1896. In the story "Ein Knabenstreich" the character Samuel Leukardt, known as the "Sammetwedel" had his shop here.

16. Lederstraße 24. This house belonged to the Staudenmeyer family and the Hesses lived here on the second floor from September 1889 until June 1893. The house of the municipal clerk, Emil Staudenmeyer (1857 - 1926), was the scene of the fig theft in the story "Kinderseele". This is now the business premises of the firm "Flory".

17. Marktstraße 4 - 6. In the late eighteen-eighties, the junction of the Market Square and Market Street was the site of Frau Haas` fruit stall, Jakob Jenisch`s toy shop (1851 - 1939), and of the coppersmith Heinrich Kirn`s workshop (1841 - 1911). See Hesse`s story "Unterbrochene Schulstunde".

18. Georgenäum. "A propagation centre for true and varied national education, founded as an institution for the encouragement of trade and industry, art and knowledge for the public benefit" by Consul General Emil von Georgii-Georgenau (1828 - 1902). It was opened officially in May 1871. This is where Johannes Hesse held missionary talks. Painting and drawing lessons were held , the choir and choral society performed their concerts and portraits of famous people from Calw were also shown here.

19. Am Schloßberg. The Hermann Hesse Grammar School. This was the site of the town`s poorhouse and spital. See Hesse`s story "In der alten Sonne".

20. Metzgergasse: Next to the supporting wall opposite the Youth Hostel the public house which was frequented by the spital beneficiaries in Hesse`s story "In der alten Sonne" would have been. The Metzgergasse was described in the book "The Glass Bead Game" as "Josef-Knecht-Gasse". Hesse`s grandfather, Hermann Gundert, lived here with his family before moving into the Calw Publishers` house (1859 - 1862).

21. Badstraße: House and metal work-shop of the locksmith Gottlob Mohr (born 1843) and his sons. Gottlob (born 1872), August (born 1874) and Hermann (1879 -1889) who is known as "Mohrle" in the story "Erlebnis aus der Knabenzeit". Hesse`s grandfather Hermann Gundert and his son Paul both held Gottlob Mohr senior in high esteem.

22. Hermann Hesse-Platz and

23. Nikolausbrücke. This distinguishing feature of Calw is the oldest stone bridge across the Nagold, it carries the Chapel of St. Nicholas on its central pillar. Nikolausbrücke was built around 1400, renovated in 1863/64 and again in 1926 when a small tower was added. The small square on the west side of the bridge was Hesse`s "most favourite place of the whole town". He reckoned that the Cathedral Square in Florence was nothing compared to it. The square`s small fountain was named Hermann Hesse-Fountain in 1920, it was later moved to the vicinity of the Brühl and then, during the town`s redevelopment in the 1970s, was returned to its original position and the square was renamed: Hermann Hesse-Platz.

24. The River Nagold. At the end of the 19th century there were small islands on either side of the Nikolausbrücke, from where the town`s youngsters used to swim. At the weir, where the electric power station now is, was once the Upper Mill, birthplace of Ulrich Rülein (1464 - 1523), town physician and later Lord Mayor of Freiberg in Sachsen. Opposite the lower island was the Central Mill, next to which was a workshop of the clocktower-maker Perrot. The "Stellfalle" (a side weir) upstream was necessary to enable the rafters to achieve the required speed to pass under the bridge.

25. Junction Nikolausbrücke and Bischofstraße. Here was the town spital until 1692 and mayor Hasenmeyer built a town house here in 1791, which later became the living- and business premises of the Reichert family. The patrician house opposite, at Bahnhofstraße 2, was built by the ducal court building director R. F. H. Fischer and in 1723 housed the exquisitely furnished guest house "Waldhorn". Ludwig Uhland stayed here in 1812 (his later wife, Emilie Vischer, was first mentioned in his diary in 1814), as did Hermann Hesse in 1931 (see the story "Hans Amstein").

26. Bahnhofstraße 1: Giebenrath House. Today this is the "Alte Post". The baker and publican Heinrich Giebenrath (1853 - 1939) was the direct neighbour of the Gunderts who lived at Bischofstraße 4. The name "Giebenrath" crops up in "Garibaldi", "Der Hausierer" and, especially, in "Beneath the Wheel".

27. Bahnhofstraße 20: Mechanical Workshop of Heinrich Perrot (1864 - 1949), son of Johann Immanuel Perrot (1835 - 1898). Hermann Hesse was an apprentice here from June 1894 until the middle of September 1895. (See his story "Aus der Werkstatt"). In the preface to his collection of works "Gerbersau", Hesse describes a passage from the one-time railway-station into town. (See also "Beneath the Wheel", Hans Dierlamms Lehrzeit", "Das erste Abenteuer" and "Schön ist die Jugend").

28. Bischofstraße 4. 1854 - 1920 this building housed the Calw Publishers, founded in 1836 in Möttlingen near Calw, and for which Hesse`s grandfather, Hermann Gundert and both of his parents worked between 1862 and 1905. From 1862 until 1893 this was the official residence of Hermann Gundert and his family. The family lived here with their children from 1886 - 1889 and from 1893 - 1905. This is the house which Hesse refers to as his parental home and where his "grandfather`s library" was. Here the life-portraits "Boccaccio" (1903/04), "Francis of Assissi" (1903/04) and the Story "Beneath the Wheel" (1903/04) originated. The building which today houses the Müller Drugstore, has almost totally lost its original appaerance. Only the garden house the verandah which face the hillside and the railway-lines have remained unchanged.

29. Bischofsbrunnen. This fountain in the Central Bus Station (ZOB) was originally a well in a neighbouring cellar from which Hesse when he was a child used to fetch drinking water in a grey-blue Stuttgart jug for his father when he was "sick of tap-water from the kitchen". Hesse referred to his father as an "ascetic gentleman who was nevertheless a gourmet of the simple things".

Many places in and around Calw have been precisely described in Hesse`s works that the reader has no difficulty in finding them even after almost a century.

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