Fuggerei

This report on my visit to the Fuggerei finishes my trilogy of blogs about my trip to Augsburg.

   

In 1521, Jakob Fugger, the Younger, later called the Rich, founded the social housing complex nowadays called Fuggerei for needy citizens of Augsburg. The annual rent for an apartment still amounts to the nominal value of one Rhenish guilder, which is currently about one dollar. Residents must be of the Catholic faith and say three prayers daily (the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Nicene Creed) for the defunct Fugger clan. 

Corona-appropriate separation:
One door leads to the ground, the other to the upper-floor apartment.

By 1523, 52 houses had been built.

The main alley

Presently, about 150 people live in the 140 apartments of the 67 two-story houses. 

The hardest thing the inhabitants must tolerate is the many daily tourists. visiting the Fuggerei. 

The city square with the fountain.
In the back, one tower of Augsburg's city hall
and the Perlach Towers peak out.

The Fuggerei, an ensemble with eight alleys, is a city within the city with its own church, city walls, and seven gates closed during the night. Inscriptions and stones with the lily coats of arms of the Fuggers remind of the founder's family.

     

In the park area within the Fuggerei ... 

... there is a bust of the founder, Jakob Fugger.

A museum gives the visitor some insight into how people lived in the olden days: 

The kitchen

The living. Note the service hatch to the kitchen.

      

The bedroom

The Fuggerei is the oldest social settlement in the world; however, its uniqueness lies in its continuity. The foundation still finances it, and its conception is regarded as exemplary today.

Today, the Fuggerei is also an architectural model. Still, what was groundbreaking 500 years ago: Jakob Fugger did not regard the residents as beggars but helped them back on their feet again.

The old sundial was destroyed during the war, but the new one requests the Fuggerei inhabitants, too, "Nütze die Zeit (Use your time)." The founder was conservative, still far ahead of his time. 

 After the one-hour guided tour, I felt hungry and thirsty. At the entrance to the Fuggerei, the Schänke offered all that I needed.

Augusta wheat beer, Weißwurst with sweet mustard, and a Bretzen

Apologies to all my Bavarian readers. I know it is an act of sacrilege to eat a Weißwurst afternoon. A Bavarian veal sausage shall never hear the lunchtime bells.

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