city reflect the city's medieval history, this part of the city is in many ways a normal, modern German town with some concession to the tourist trade. Many stores and hotels catering to tourists are clustered around the Town Hall Square and along several major streets (such as Herrngasse, Schmiedgasse). Also in the town is a Criminal Museum, containing various punishment and torture devices used during the Middle Ages. A staple pastry of Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the Schneeball, deep-fried dough shaped like a snowball and covered in either confectioner's sugar or chocolate. From 1988 until March 2006, Herbert Hachtel (SPD) was the mayor of Rothenburg. He was succeeded by Walter Hartl. Main sights Museums The Criminal Museum (Kriminalmuseum) gives an insight into judicial punishment over the last 1000 years. Exhibits include instruments of torture, shrew's fiddles, scold's bridles, medieval legal texts, and guidance on witch trials. Imperial City Museum (Reichsstadtmuseum) with the municipal collections and a weapon collection Doll and Toy Museum (Puppen- und Spielzeugmuseum) Shepherds' Dance Museum (Schäfertanz Museum) Christmas Museum (Weihnachtsmuseum "Käthe Wohlfahrt") Craft House (Handwerkerhaus) 11 rooms showing the everyday life of craftsmen's families in Rothenburg Historical vaulting and state dungeon Buildings St. James' Church with its Holy Blood reredos by Tilman Riemenschneider, another Riemenschneider altar (Altar of the Holy Cross) is in the Detwang church. Town wall Plönlein Spital bastion (Spitalbastei), a barbican with an abwurfdach built by Rothenburg architect and stonemason, Leonhard Weidmann St. Wolfgang's Church by the Klingentor gate (fortified church) Great hall of the castle (St. Blasius' Chapel) Toppler Castle in the Tauber valley Double bridge over the Tauber The was built between 1898 and 1903 by Friedrich Hessing as a spa hotel. Since 1982 it has been used as an Evangelical conference centre. Historic town hall with clock tower and Meistertrunk clock Altes Brauhaus Rödertor St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Detwang Old Smithy Old Town Hall Monastery Franciscan church Cultural references Rothenburg has appeared in several films, notably fantasies. It was the inspiration for the village in the 1940 Walt Disney movie Pinocchio. It was the location for the Vulgarian village scenes in the 1968 family movie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It is sometimes mistaken as the town at the end of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971); that town was Nördlingen. The town served as a loose basis for the fictional town of Lebensbaum ("life tree") in