Germany Guide
Central Bavaria
Fuggerei
Address: Eastern Altstadt, along Jakoberstrasse
Opening time: Daily: April– Sept 8am–8pm; Oct– March 9am–6pm
Price: €4
The remarkable Fuggerei was established for the virtuous poor of Augsburg by Jakob Fugger the Rich and his brothers in 1521 and is generally regarded as the world's oldest social-housing scheme. Residents must be Catholic and must say three prayers a day for the founder and the Fugger family; that duty aside, they pay a nominal rent – excluding heating – of €0.88 a year. The Fuggerei's eight lanes of simple, ochre-washed houses constitute a city within a city, complete with seven gates and a church of its own, and it's a charming place simply to wander. An informative museum on Mittlere Gasse tells the story of the Fuggers in English and German and includes a visit to a house furnished as it would have been historically; you can also visit a modernized show apartment at Ochsengasse 51 to gain an insight into living conditions at the Fuggerei today. In the former air raid shelter nearby, an exhibition tells the tale of the destruction of much of the Fuggerei in the night of February 25–26, 1944, as USAF bombers targeted the Messerschmitt aircraft factory, and of the rapid reconstruction after the war.