Kramerzunft

Kramerzunft stands in Memmingen’s old town, close to the city stream and surrounded by medieval architecture. The three-storey building keeps its fifteenth-century core beneath a gabled roof. Five arched niches mark the west side, leading towards a passage with openings over the stream. Inside, the second-floor hall carries profiled ceiling mouldings, fish-bladder motifs, twentieth-century panelling, and a richly carved door frame.

A large hall was added for the merchants’ guild, whose building later became a meeting place during the German Peasants’ War. In 1525, rebellious peasants gathered here to formulate the Twelve Articles and the Federal Order. Sebastian Lotzer drafted the Twelve Articles, expressing demands for human dignity and rights amid disputes over taxes and feudal obligations. These texts rank among the earliest constitutional statements and declarations of human rights on German soil. A mural from 1512 remains among the details that connect the interior with its earlier history. Restoration in the twenty-first century preserved the building, while the ground floor now contains retail businesses. The upper floors serve the crafts guild, and Bavaria recognises this historic place among its sites of democracy.