Martin Luther's house where he died

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Martin Luther's house where he died

Martin Luther's house where he died is a building in Lutherstadt Eisleben on Andreaskirchplatz, from which it was assumed that the reformer Martin Luther died on February 18, 1546. According to recent research, however, the house of today's hotel "Graf von Mansfeld" on the market is the actual place where he died. The house on Andreaskirchplatz is now used as a museum. It was reopened on February 1, 2013 after two years of renovation work and supplemented by a new building. Martin Luther's birthplace is also located elsewhere in Eisleben .

Architecture and history

The building known as the house where Luther died is located at Andreaskirchplatz No. 7, directly opposite the Eisleber St. Andrew's Church , where Luther performed a final ordination a few days before his death . The listed building was built after the town fire of 1498 and served as the town clerk's residence for a long time . On the street side is a late-Gothic , two-story eaves house , which from a steep gable roof is crowned. A narrow side wing was built on the courtyard side around 1600.

At the time of his death, Luther was staying with the Drachstedt family, who were friends with him . Already in the 17th century it was in the possession of the son of Dr. Drachstedt located on Andreaskirchplatz probably erroneously as the house where he died. The real house where he died is probably the city palace (Markt 56), in which the “Graf von Mansfeld” hotel is located today. In addition to a chair belonging to the reformer, the real death room can also be viewed there. In 1863 the Prussian treasury acquired the house, which had been accepted as the house where he died, for the purpose of setting up a memorial. Between 1863 and 1868 the building was extensively renovated by Friedrich August Ritter and also redesigned in a historicizing way . The doors and windows on the first floor have been reconstructed. Worth mentioning here are the richly profiled keel- arched windows and an equally keel- arched seating niche portal. Both were reconstructed in late Gothic forms. The original floor plan with a wide hallway, two vaulted rooms and Wendelstein was largely retained.

The upper floor, which was formerly built as a half-timbered structure , was expanded in a massive construction and its floor plan was changed. A gallery that originally existed on the courtyard side was removed. On the upper floor there are coupled, rectangular windows with framework walls . The large living room and room that was long assumed to be Luther's death room is on the upper floor. The beam ceiling there is still in its original condition. A small bedroom located there still has the furnishings of the 16th century. A conference room was added to the side wing. The flat bay window on the cantilever arches was reconstructed. In the years 1892 to 1894, the historicist interior was created based on designs by Friedrich Wanderer from Nuremberg. Another restoration followed in 1982/83. Since 1994 the house has been used entirely as a museum.

After two years of renovation work and the addition of a new building, the museum reopened on February 1, 2013. The plans for the extensive renovation and reconstruction work in the old building as well as the extension came from the Stuttgart architectural office VON M. Dealing with the heterogeneous building fabric and the high requirements for monument protection was an architectural challenge.

Works of art in the house of death

In the time after Martin Luther, several works of art were displayed in the house. The historical picture of Luther's Last Confession, created by William Pape in 1905, is located in the living room . Furthermore, an epitaph for Elisabeth Francke from 1517, originally located in the Sankt Andreas Church, is shown in the exhibition rooms . The epitaph painting shows the scene of the lamentation of Christ, with Christ as the Man of Sorrows showing his wounds, as well as the family who gave it. The painting, created around 1517/18, presumably comes from Hans Döring . Another epitaph painting in the house was created in 1569 by Heinrich Göding for the family of the superintendent Hieronymus Menzel . The painting shows the last ordination performed by Luther in St. Andrew's Church.

Awards

After the renovation work and the expansion, the newly designed facility received several architecture prizes, including an award from the state of Saxony-Anhalt in 2013, the Fritz Hoeger Prize in gold in 2014, recognition of the German Brick Prize and the Hannes Meyer Prize in 2015 and the " Nike ”in the Atmosphere category. Among other things, special clinkers produced using the water-struck process are used.

literature

Web links

Commons : Martin Luther's death house  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Awards, recognitions and architectural prizes accessed on July 7, 2016
  2. Gold for Luther's house where he died. Retrieved June 18, 2018 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 31 ′ 41.1 ″  N , 11 ° 32 ′ 39.6 ″  E