Reichenauer Hof Palace

The Reichenauer Hof (also: Ehinger Hof) is a former patrician house in Ulm, whose building history dates back to the Gothic period. Inside, in the so-called "Meistersingersaal" or "Minnesängersaal", it houses the oldest frescoes in Ulm.

The building, also known as Ehinger Hof (current address: Grüner Hof 2), originally dates back to a patrician house built around 1370 in the southeast of Ulm's old town near the Herdbrücke over the Danube, which was commissioned by the then mayor of Ulm, Ludwig Krafft, who was married in his first marriage to Elisabeth Ehinger († 1389). Its fragments (Meistersinger or Minnesänger Hall) represent the oldest parts of the building today. Later owners included the councilor Ulrich Ehinger (since 1537). He shaped the current architecture in the emerging German Early Renaissance. In doing so, he integrated the existing Minnesänger Hall into the predominantly preserved Renaissance building. The alternative name "Ehinger Hof" also dates back to this period. The more common name "Reichenauer Hof" today is due to the former administrative court of Reichenau Abbey, which conducted trade and politics from this location in the High Middle Ages. The east wing from the 14th century was supplemented by extensions around 1535. The proportions of its facades, the arcades of the inner courtyard, and its coffered ceilings in the interior characterize the building in this form as an early testimony to the German Renaissance. Several later alterations followed.

Between 1543 and 1552, Emperor Charles V was a guest in the house five times. Later (until 1786), the inn "Schwarzer Ochsen" was located here. The current main building extends parallel to the Danube and has a gable to the west and a southwest corner oriel. From 1842, Major von Prittwitz planned and coordinated the construction of the part of the Federal Fortress Ulm located north of the Danube from the Reichenauer Hof (so-called Kommandantur, later also Gouvernment). After war damage in World War II and reconstruction, the building today houses the State Building Authority Ulm and the Federal Agency for Real Estate, which manage federal buildings from Heidenheim to Lake Constance from the Reichenauer Hof.

The current main building extends parallel to the Danube and has a gable to the west and a southwest corner oriel.

In the east wing of the Reichenauer Hof is the so-called "Minnesängersaal" (formerly also "Meistersingersaal"). Its frescoes were created around 1370/80 and are considered the oldest preserved Gothic wall paintings in Ulm. Along the walls, figures and scrolls address love – "Minne" – in its worldly and spiritual form. The decoration of the hall extends over the wall surfaces (foliage and figures) in the plinth zone with illusionistically painted draped wall hangings, as well as the two vault fields (coat of arms medallions with lions and eagles). The keystones are adorned with the coats of arms of the Krafft and Ehinger families. The musicians depicted in the window area with timpani, monochord, violin, and lute gave the room the name "Meistersingersaal" or "Minnesängersaal". However, the hall was not used by Meistersingers (who were associated with citizens and craftsmen), but served as a banqueting hall ("Singeraum") for patricians. A courtly singing competition probably never took place here.

The wall paintings of the hall, which is not constantly accessible today for reasons of monument protection, were renovated in 1960. The room is architecturally as well as spiritually and culturally a testament to patrician Ulm and a rare example of secular wall painting of the late Middle Ages.

Source Text: Wikipedia