... is a town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu, one kilometre from the Austrian border known for violin manufacturing and as the closest transportation hub for Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles, which are a few kilometres away. In 2018 the town had a population of 15,508.
Füssen was settled in Roman times, on the Via Claudia Augusta, a road that leads southwards to northern Italy and northwards to Augusta Vindelicum (today's Augsburg), the former regional capital of the Roman province Raetia. The original name of Füssen was "Foetes", or "Foetibus" (inflected), which derives from Latin "Fauces", meaning "gorge", probably referring to the Lech gorge. In Late Antiquity Füssen was the home of a part of the Legio III Italica, which was stationed there to guard the important trade route over the Alps.
Füssen later became the site of the "Hohes Schloss" (High Castle), the former summer residence of the prince-bishops of Augsburg. Below the Hohes Schloss is the Baroque complex of the former Benedictine monastery of St. Mang, whose history goes back to the 9th century. Füssen has Saint Mang (Magnus of Füssen) as its patron saint. He and his Benedictine brother Theodor were two monks from the Abbey of Saint Gall and are considered to be its founders, in addition to the Monastery of Kempten.[2] Magnus' original burial place was in the small chapel he built. His bones were transferred to the crypt of the church built in 850. Around the year 950 all his bones disappeared.
In 1745, the Treaty of Füssen was signed between the Electorate of Bavaria and Habsburg Austria, ending Bavaria's participation in the War of the Austrian Succession. During the 19th century, composer Richard Wagner used to come to Füssen by railway when he visited King Ludwig II of Bavaria.
Recent history: Since the 1950s the town has been familiar to travellers as the southern terminus of the Romantic Road. Füssen was host to the 1988 World Junior Curling Championships.
Füssen is located on the banks of the Lech River, which flows into the Forggensee. The Forggensee is a man-made lake which was built to prevent flooding. It is the catchment area for all the melting snow in the spring, and is drained after the middle of October. Füssen is 808 meters (2,651 ft) above sea level. At latitude 47̊34 N it is one of the southernmost towns in Germany, at roughly the same latitude as Seattle, Washington, USA.