To the old coin (Wetzlar)
Zur Alten Münz is a half-timbered house in the historic old town of Wetzlar . The building on Eisenmarkt was erected in 1599 and is a protected monument .
history
In 1599, a Walloon religious refugee who had come to the city in 1586 built the house, which since then has been the only one in Wetzlar to have inscriptions in three languages: German, Latin and French. The previous building on the site of the current building was probably a mint , which gave the building its name "Alte Münz".
The iron market is the historical intersection of the economically most important streets in the old town of Wetzlar. This location suggests a consistent mixed use of the building for commercial and residential purposes. For example, there was a butcher's and pub here in the 19th century. From 1914 to 1933 the ground floor was used as a pastry shop and café, later for retail use.
In the years 1907/08 the framework was exposed again. The half-timbered house was last restored in 2007. Today the ground floor is used again by a café.
description
The Alte Münz is one of the most striking Renaissance buildings in Wetzlar's old town. The half-timbering on the ground floor was replaced by sandstone masonry in 1908. The first and second floors are full floors with large cantilevers. Above it rises a steep gable with different half-timbered structures. The house is rich in decorations in strong colors, such as frames and thresholds with elaborately profiled filler wood. Tooth-cut motifs , different grooves and pearl cords structure these entablature. Next to a gable threshold with lily tendrils there are man figures with flower-carved angular pieces of wood, grooved firebucks or struts. In the upper gable field there are coats of arms with an imperial eagle and "Wetzlarer eagle". The carved corner posts with whirled, scaled columns have strongly profiled volute scrolls as a base and as a capital.
Web links
- State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): To the old coin In: DenkXweb, online edition of cultural monuments in Hesse
- City of Wetzlar: Historical tour through the old town of Wetzlar (PDF file; 117.93 KB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung, November 11, 2007: The most beautiful half-timbered building spruced up
Coordinates: 50 ° 33 '15.1 " N , 8 ° 30' 4.4" E