{"id":2818,"date":"2020-03-05T14:03:31","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T13:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/merianin.de\/?page_id=2818"},"modified":"2024-04-03T10:14:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T08:14:32","slug":"haus-bergstrasse","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/merianin.de\/en\/home\/haus-bergstrasse\/","title":{"rendered":"Dwelling at Bergstrasse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \n Traces of Maria Sibylla in the Contemporary Cityscape <\/span>\n \t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\tPLACES OF REMEMBRANCE IN NUREMBERG\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>
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Maria Sibylla and Johann Andreas Graff lived in Nuremberg as a married couple for 14 years and their second daughter was born here in 1678. During this time Maria Sibylla, supported by her husband and Nuremberg civic society, developed her life-long interest: the observation of insects and their natural development.<\/p>\n

In some places in Nuremberg this memory is still alive.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tLiving and Working in the House at the Milk Market\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>
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Detail from a Nuremberg Town Map 1793 (4)
\nGreen Circle: Merian Garden, Red Circle: Bergstrasse 10<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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In 1668 Graff brought his young wife and their first baby daughter, Johanna Helena, from Frankfurt to his native town of Nuremberg. There, their second daughter, Dorothea Maria, was born in 1678 and they stayed there till 1682. Graff was from a family which enjoyed a good reputation; he was the son of a high-school headmaster and a poeta laureatus.<\/p>\n

But where did they live? In the Church archives we find a note that Graff\u2019s mother had died in 1649, in Nuremberg \u201eat the Milk Market\u201d (today Albrecht-D\u00fcrer-Platz with northern part of Bergstra\u00dfe). (1) This is where her son Johann Andreas must have spent a large part of his childhood. He died in 1701, also \u201cat the old Milk Market\u201d. (2) Clearly, the house where the young Graff family moved in 1668 was owned by the family for many years. However, there are many houses on the Old Milk Market, and for centuries nobody knew which of them had been the Graff family dwelling.<\/p>\n

Erich Mulzer, knowledgeable expert on Nuremberg history and for many years president of the \u201cAltstadtfreunde\u201d (Society of Friends of Nuremberg Old Town), with support from house historian, Karl Kohn, has verified the exact location of the Graffs\u2019 residence through painstaking archival research (3): Before houses were numbered, the house was called \u201cHouse to the Golden Sun\u201d, because long before the Graffs bought it, it had been a pub.<\/p>\n

The small lane to the east of this house \u201cdetached on the corner\u201d was called \u201cSonneng\u00e4\u00dflein\u201d (Sun Lane) and linked \u201cObere Schmidgasse\u201d (Upper Smith Lane) with \u201cOberer Milchmarkt\u201d (Upper Milk Market).<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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Detail from a Nuremberg Town Map 2015 (4)
\nGreen Circle: Merian Garden, Red Circle: Bergstrasse 10<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The Graff Family Dwelling Bergstrasse 10<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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Commemorative Plaque at the Dwelling Bergstrasse 10
\nIn autumn 2023 the city of Nuremberg had an additional QR code affixed to the lower left part of the plaque. At a modest 5 x 5 cm and gleaming like gold, the rectangle blends in harmoniously.
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Photos: Dieter L\u00f6lh\u00f6ffel<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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When at the end of Nuremberg\u2019s time as an Imperial City, the houses in both halves of the city were numbered consecutively, this house was given the number \u201cS<\/strong>[ebald] 443<\/strong>\u201c. The front house was one of the few historic half-timbered houses in the Old Town which remained undamaged during World War II. Today\u2019s address is: Bergstra\u00dfe 10<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

On the upper floors, the scarf joints (rather than mortise and tenon joints) in the timbers are clearly visible so that the timbering can be dated to pre-1520. Dendrochrono\u00aclogical tests show that this house, including today\u2019s upper floors was constructed in 1412. (5)<\/p>\n

Only the stone ground floor has been altered, and on the first floor, the timbering was later replaced (mortise and tenon joints, i.e. after 1520), but the overall appearance has remained largely unchanged since the times of the Graff-Merianin family. It seems like a miracle that the house survived the almost complete destruction of this area in the Second World War.<\/p>\n

The house can be easily found below the Imperial Castle, identifiable by its new commemorative plaque which was affixed in 2019.<\/p>\n

In this spacious house, there was a lot of room for the couple\u2019s activities:<\/p>\n