Schönes Haus

Schönes Haus is a timber-framed building in Ulm’s Fishermen’s Quarter, beside the historic streets along the Danube. Its visible wooden beams form a three-storey structure, expanded in 1597 from a building associated with the year 1533.

The house served as the seat of the master craftsmen of the Schifferzunft, Ulm’s boatmen’s guild, whose work carried people and goods along the Danube. A large exterior fresco shows Belgrade and recalls the Turkish Wars from 1664 to 1718, when Ulm’s boatmen transported troops. Johann Matthäus Scheiffele painted the original in 1717, while Georg Bosch restored the version visible today in 1954. Plaster concealed the timber framing until 1981, and the building has stood under historic preservation since before 1945.

Look closely at the ground floor, where hardly any right angles remain, reflecting an architectural ideal of its period. The surrounding Fishermen’s Quarter preserves similar buildings linked to river trade, making the house a vivid part of Ulm’s working history.