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The Fuggerhäuser (''Fugger houses'') is a complex of houses on the Maximilianstraße in
Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ...
, built for the Fugger family of businessmen. It is now owned by the Fugger-Babenhausen branch of the Fugger family who resides at Wellenburg castle in Augsburg and in
Babenhausen, Bavaria Babenhausen is a municipality in the district of Unterallgäu in Bavaria, Germany. It is seat of a municipal association with Egg an der Günz, Kettershausen, Kirchhaslach, Oberschönegg and Winterrieden. The view of Babenhausen is dominated b ...
.


Buildings

From 1512 to 1515 Jakob Fugger the Younger (or ''the Rich'') built two linked houses on the ''
Via Claudia Via or VIA may refer to the following: Science and technology * MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter * Via (moth), ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae * Via (electronics), a through-connection * VIA Technologie ...
'' (now Maximilianstraße) near the wine market, one as a town-house and the other as a warehouse. He designed them himself, based on notes he had taken on his travels in Italy. The secular building was the first
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
style building constructed north of the Alps. He bought other neighbouring houses from 1517 onwards and integrated them into the complex. The outer facade, one of the longest on Maximilianstraße, showed the Fugger family riches, since there was a tax paid according to the length of a house's facade. Inside the complex Jakob created four courtyards with arcades, mosaics, tuscan marble and water basins. The ''Damenhof'', with its Tuscan columns supporting arcades and painted arches, was designed as a family garden for female members of the family. The ''Zofenhof'' opens off the ''Damenhof'', whilst the third and fourth courtyard (the ''Serenadenhof'' and ''Reiterhof'') abut each other at the back of the building. Larger teams of horses could enter the complex through a high and wide gate - the ''Adlertor'' (Eagle Gate) - and leave through another on the ''Reiterhof''.


Today

After being destroyed in the Second World War, the complex was rebuilt in 1951 by Carl Fürst Fugger-Babenhausen. The front facade used to feature a fresco by
Hans Burgkmair Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531) was a German painter and woodcut printmaker. Background Hans Burgkmair was born in Augsburg, the son of painter Thomas Burgkmair. His own son, Hans the Younger, later became a painter as well. From 1488, Bu ...
, which was destroyed in the Second World War and replaced by a new livery. Plaques there recall the Fugger business empire and the events of 1518, when
Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...
was interrogated by
Thomas Cajetan Thomas Cajetan (; 20 February 14699 August 1534), also known as Gaetanus, commonly Tommaso de Vio or Thomas de Vio, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, cardinal (from 1517 until his death) and the Master of the Order of Preachers 1508 to 151 ...
in the Fuggerhäuser. In the middle of the facade is the ''Adlertor'', which indicates that the Fuggerhäuser was an imperial residence - this gate now leads to the headquarters of the Fürst Fugger Privatbank. The building is closed to the public, other than three of the inner courtyards and a three-naved hall on the ground floor of the Adlertor, which houses a bookshop at #37 Maximillianstrasse, where visitors to the shop can look onto the ''Damenhof''. On the north side of the ''Damenhof'' and ''Serenadenhof'' is the white bay window into the quarters occupied by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. A Fugger coat of arms features on the back facade of the Fuggerhäuser on Zeugplatz. The Fugger concert hall was probably in this area -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
played a concert in that hall in 1777.


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuggerhauser Buildings and structures associated with the Fugger family Buildings and structures in Augsburg