Until the middle of the 19th century, the area of today’s square was considered as a flood area and therefore contained only comparatively simple houses. Rifle clubhouses often used the area in front of the city walls for riding and shooting exercises: This is actually still today called “Schützenstraße” (“Schützen” in german means “shooters”). The square received its name in 1874 in memory of the royal physician Johann Lukas von Schönlein, who was instrumental in the research of tuberculosis. The structural development of the area and the design of the square did not take place until the 1880s in order to cope with the increasing population growth of the city.
Today, the square is dominated by the Hotel Bamberger Hof, built in 1896 in neo-baroque style, as well as by the statue of the Prince Regent Luitpold, which many tourists confuse with the famous Bamberger Reiter. Although the Prince Regent statue was built in 1899, it originally stood on the cathedral square and found its way on the Schönleinsplatz in 1974.
