Haus zum Römischen Kaiser

The Haus zum Römischen Kaiser in Mainz is a late Renaissance stone building associated with Edmund Rokoch. Rokoch commissioned it in the mid-seventeenth century. Its central section stands between two wings, whose volute gables carry shell ornaments above the façade. An octagonal turret rises over the central portal. The façade contrasts a western gable with half-columns and an eastern gable without them. Tuscan columns on lion-headed pedestals frame the main entrance. Above the entrance, a broken pediment surrounds an oriel window showing a male figure in armour. That armoured figure may represent the Roman Emperor Charles VI.

Inside, a ribbed vault carries stucco putti, rosettes, and grotesque birds above the passageway. Earlier frescoes once filled the vault’s decorated panels. A sandstone monument to Johannes Gutenberg, made by Joseph Scholl, also stands within the building. Joseph Scholl created that sandstone monument in 1827. The palace influenced Mainz architecture and later served as a model for the Episcopal Palace and Schönborner Hof. It also operated as a hotel from 1742. Mozart, Voltaire, and Goethe appear among its notable historic guests, linking the building with European cultural history. Since 1930, it has formed part of the Gutenberg Museum. The museum connects the building with printing, a specialist library, restoration work, and administrative offices. A façade renovation took place between 2005 and 2009.