Pilatushaus

Pilatushaus stands in Nuremberg’s old town, in northern St. Sebald near Nuremberg Castle. It rises seven floors above a sandstone ground floor and half-timbered upper levels. At the gable, an octagonal oriel carries a pointed roof.

Built in 1489, the house first belonged to Hans Grünwald, an armorer making equipment for tournaments and warfare. Veit Wirsberger bought it in 1507, before ownership changed several times. Since the seventeenth century, the building has carried its present name and marked the starting point of Adam Kraft’s Way of the Cross. Hans von und zu Aufseß, founder of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, lived here from 1852 to 1857.

Temporary exhibitions of modern art use the uninhabited building. A family coat of arms above the entrance dates from 1853. Between the sandstone and half-timbering, a corner figure shows Saint George killing a dragon, reflecting the house’s connection with knights and armorers.