The Nasengässchen (Nose Alley) links Leichhof (the site of the original church cemetery, Leiche meaning corpse) and Grebenstrasse (possibly originating from Graben, a ditch)  in the Altstadt.

There are heaps of theories as to its name, some referring to Zur Langen Nase (House of the Long Nose), a property in the Grebenstrasse first documented in 1568.

The most promising theory of all, however, is based on the abrupt 90° change of direction, given that a bend was in earlier times frequently called a “Nase“.

So that’s another 5 minutes of your life wasted on trivia….

22 Jun This entry was published on 22 June, 2015 at 08:00 and is filed under Altstadt, History, Language, Mainz. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.