Germany Guide
Northern Bavaria: Franconia
Stadtmuseum
Opening time: Tues– Fri 10am–5pm, Sat & Sun 10am–6pm
Price: €5, multivision show €4 extra, free audio guide
Address: Burgstrasse 15
The best surviving Renaissance house in the city is the Fembohaus, which houses the Stadtmuseum. Take the lift to the top of the house for the Tönendes Stadtmodell, an audiovisual presentation and large-scale model representing the Altstadt in 1939, on the eve of its destruction. The museum's displays on Nuremberg's trading and artistic prowess are all the more compelling for being housed in this splendid house, built for the Dutch trader Philipp van Orl in 1591–96. The Baroque vestibule on the second floor has a wonderful stucco ceiling from 1674 by Carlo Moretti Brentano, the Italian who was also responsible for the stucco work in Munich's Theatinerkirche. The museum also incorporates the richly decorated Schönes Zimmer which came from the Pellerhaus, an even more magnificent Renaissance house built for Martin Peller (1559–1629), the city's richest merchant in his day. It was largely destroyed during World War II, but the Stadtmuseum has a model, and you can see what survives on Egidienplatz east of Burgstrasse; bizarrely, the Renaissance courtyard was incorporated into the 1950s-style Stadtbibliothek, though there are plans for a more thorough rebuild.