I spent few days in Augsburg in September 2019, and I must say it is very nice and very interesting place of Southern Germany. Despite a demage during WWII and modern (re)constructions, the historical core has its charm and refined character. It is relatively large town with several distinct districts: (1) the main axis with the highest concentration of monuments and museums goes from the Augsburger Dom, through Rathausplatz with huge Municipal Hall and Perlach Tower (+ the district adjacent to Rathausplatz in direction the railwaystation), alongside Maximilian street to the area around the monumental church of SS Ulrich and Afra; (2) The Lech District with a net of water canals, towers and other water works; (3) The area around Fuggerei. All together, it took me one full day to explore the most interesting places and museums.

As the main monuments of Augsburg are of national importance and would have no chance to become WHS, the many-kilometers-long system of water canals and other water-works were proposed - and it worked (somehow). This issue reminds me Bologna, where instead of the historical center many kilometers of porticoes are proposed as TWHS, and I will not be surprised if it (sadly) works also in that case.

From the inscribed properties I explored the Lech canals (the entire Lech district is a buffer zone) which are not very spectacular. The most interesting area is probably the ensamble of water-towers around the Red Gate, and also the Butchers Hall is nice building. However, the most spectacular components are monumental Augustus, Mercury and Hercules Fountains (PHOTO) in Maximilian street. What I enjoyed the most was masterly elaborated bronze statues - all of them are naked - I take a naked body as a masterpiece of its own! - with an obvious exception of the emperor Augustus. But practically all naked statues have genitals covered in rather intricate and weird ways. The most strange trick can be seen in Hercules Fountain, where four little angels have genitals hidden beneath goose heads. Of course, it does not justify the inscribtion as WHS.

To conclude, none of components I have seen is truly exceptional.

I do not understand the current trend, where you need to read thick books and explore huge area spanning several kilometers to fully understand OUV of a property. I am able to accept this approach in some case, but I am in doubts if it really works in the case of water management systems of Augsburg.