Schwangau is a municipality

Municipalities of Germany

Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...

  in the district of Ostallgäu

Ostallgäu

Ostallgäu is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Oberallgäu, Unterallgäu, Augsburg, Landsberg, Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and by the Austrian state of Tyrol...

 in Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The village lies 4 km from the larger town of Füssen

Füssen

Füssen is a town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu situated from the Austrian border. It is located on the banks of the Lech river. The River Lech flows into the Forggensee...

 and just 1.5 km from Hohenschwangau

Hohenschwangau

Hohenschwangau is a village in the municipality of Schwangau, Ostallgäu district, Bavaria, Germany.It is located between Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau and is visited by about 2 million people annually, where they start tours to the former royal palaces.The village is dominated...

, a collection of tourist-oriented facilities adjacent to the major tourist attractions of Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau

Schloss Hohenschwangau

Hohenschwangau Castle or Schloss Hohenschwangau is a 19th century palace in southern Germany. It was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria...

.

Schwangau has no railway station, but is served by bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

es connecting to Füssen, Hohenschwangau, and other nearby Alpine towns. It is the next-to-last town on the Romantic Road

Romantic Road

The Romantic Road is the term for a theme route coined by travel agents in the 1950s to describe the of highway in southern Germany , between Würzburg and Füssen. In medieval times it used to be a trade route, connecting the center of Germany with the South...

 tourist route that terminates in Füssen.

A castrum Swangowe is attested in 1090. It was situated on the site of Neuschwanstein Castle and was owned by the Elder House of Welf

Elder House of Welf

The Elder House of Welf was a dynasty of European rulers in the 9th through 11th centuries to 1055. It consisted of two groups, a Burgundian group and a Swabian group. It is disputed whether the two groups formed one dynasty or whether they shared the same name by coincidence only.-Burgundian...

.
After the death of Welf VI

Welf VI

Welf VI was the margrave of Tuscany and duke of Spoleto , the third son of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, and a member of the illustrious Italo-German family of the Welf....

 in 1191, it fell to the Staufer dynasty, and in 1268 to the empire.
The modern coat of arms is based on the one shown in the Codex Manesse

Codex Manesse

The Codex Manesse, Manesse Codex, or Große Heidelberger Liederhandschrift is a Liederhandschrift , the single most comprehensive source of Middle High German Minnesang poetry, written and illustrated between ca. 1304 when the main part was completed, and ca...

as that of Hiltpolt of Schwangau (d. 1256), gules, a swan argent.