They built a city with 72,000 tons of diamonds, then NASA and Hollywood came knocking

Urban planning has its mysteries, ones that reason does not always explain, as Le Corbusier, one of the greatest minds of modern architecture, would said. His work went beyond theory and art, and today it helps frame the story of a remarkable German city. Nördlingen, located along the Romantic Road, stands out for the extraordinary way its buildings were constructed and decorated.

That distinction is literal. An estimated 72,000 tons of diamonds are hidden within the foundations of its buildings and city walls, though none are visible to the naked eye. These diamonds were not placed there intentionally, or perhaps in a sense they were.

Cosmic event blesses city with wealth of diamonds

In the 1960s, scientists uncovered a strange phenomenon that had occurred millions of years earlier. A small asteroid struck this part of Bavaria, creating a crater 9 miles (14.5 km) wide, roughly the size of the city itself. The impact produced suevite, a type of rock made up of diamonds, crystals, glass, and other debris. According to scientific studies, the extreme speed of the collision between the asteroid and the Earth led to the formation of these precious stones.

When settlers began building the city around the year 898 AD, they had no idea they were constructing homes and businesses in the area with the highest concentration of diamonds on the planet. The diamonds were scattered throughout the region and were far too small to be seen without magnification. For many years, residents of Nördlingen believed the crater had a volcanic origin.

The townspeople used suevite as a building material for houses and public structures. Many of Nördlingen’s most famous landmarks, including St. George’s Church and its tower known as Daniel, were built with this stone. The church alone contains an estimated 5,000 carats of microdiamonds. While they have no economic value, they are a fascinating scientific curiosity.

NASA and Hollywood come knocking

Because of its similarities to the lunar surface, astronauts from the Apollo 14 and Apollo 17 missions trained in Nördlingen during the 1970s. The town also found a place in pop culture, serving as the location for the aerial shots in the final scenes of the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

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