Weberhaus

The Weberhaus stands in Augsburg as a former guild house for the city’s weavers. Stone, wood and colourful façade paintings once marked the building. Built in 1389, it served the weavers’ guild until its dissolution in 1548. Augsburg was then a major centre of textile trade.

After the guild acquired the house from the Illsung family, members received imported cotton there. Matthias Kager painted its exterior with frescoes between 1605 and 1607. Demolition followed centuries of alteration, and Otto Holzer designed a similar replacement in 1913. The Second World War destroyed the replacement with much of Augsburg’s city centre. Rebuilt in 1959, it underwent further restoration after environmental damage and a roof fire in 2004.

Its reconstructed façade echoes earlier colours, while the rebuilt windows retain their original proportions. The rescued late Gothic guild-room panelling is preserved in Munich. It forms part of one of the largest and most detailed late Gothic picture cycles north of the Alps. Old Testament scenes and episodes from Alexander the Great’s life cover its barrel-vaulted ceiling. Jewish prophets and pagan philosophers decorate the east wall.