Mauthalle

Mauthalle rises in Nuremberg’s old town as a medieval sandstone storehouse built into the former city moat. Hans Beheim the Elder built it between 1498 and 1502. Its three-storey walls support a five-storey gabled roof, while the eastern gable carries blind ogee arches. Adam Kraft created the city’s coat of arms above the lancet-arched portal in 1502.

The building began as Nuremberg’s largest granary and formed one of twelve civic storehouses for times of crisis. In 1571, it became a weigh house and customhouse, giving rise to its name. A commercial conversion followed in 1898, after the structure had served trade and storage for centuries. Bombing destroyed the roof in 1943, and further attacks caused complete burnout by January 1945. Reconstruction between 1951 and 1953 restored the building in simplified form, replacing its half-timbered dormers with plastered masonry.

Below, a three-aisled vaulted cellar rests on twenty-six pillars and once stored wine as the Herrenkeller. From 1929, the space welcomed the Franconian Mautkeller restaurant and brewery. The medieval cellar later housed the Barfüßer brewery and restaurant between 1994 and 2020. Along Nuremberg’s Historical Mile, the long façade preserves a vivid link between grain stores, customs, wartime destruction and restored urban life.