fuggerei

Before I came to Augsburg I knew nothing about the Fugger family. When I left the city I was well informed by the family's wealth, social-economical status and political influences to the City and Germany's imperial power. The main attractions in town, whether you are impressed or not, are very much related to the Fugger family.The Fuggerei, a walled community living quarter and a subsidized housing program within the city of Augsburg, is the world's oldest social housing complex still in use. Founded in 1516 by Jakob Fugger the Rich and his brothers, it's the social settlement for the needy citizens of Augsburg since 1521 and today the residents still only pay 0.88 euros annual rent(except electricity) with 3 conditions and contracts- be a catholic faith; in need but never in debt; and say 3 prayers daily- Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Nicene Creed- for the Fugger family.The five gates are still locked every day at 10 PM. Residents must pay a small fee to enter the gate after a late night outing. The Fuggerei, in a sense, is similar to a small independent medieval town still functions today. The whole community structure was heavily damaged and 730 people lose their lives during the air raids in 1944. The Fugger foundation took many years to reconstruct and restored the houses to the conditions we see today. There are currently 67 houses, arranged in linear layouts, each house occupied two residences in upper and lower levels. While strolling down the streets and alleys, you do want to pay attentions to some very unique architecture characters and genius designs that are rarely seen in the modern day: on the wall there are still a few houses with the original house numbers; each house has it own bell pull hung by the front door and each was made with unique shape so that residents could distinguish their houses from others; a built-in remote door open/close handle bar nearby an opened wall enabled residents open/close the door, see the person without leaving the living room; the niches built on the outer walls with statues of the Madonna with baby Jesus, Angels or Catholic saints; the different shapes of Russian Chimneys; the characteristic Gothic corbie gable, the old pump well station; the painted (restored) sun dial on the facade of the St. Markus; the statue of Jakob Fugger the Rich in the shady park;a reconstructed WWII bunker with photos and wartime gadgets; the Fugger's own coat of arms Lily can be seen within the community. Along with those special features, a few houses are pointed out in the brochure: Mozart's great grandfather Franz Mozart was once lived in upstairs of no.14 on Mittlere Gasse; The Fugger's own family chapel St.Markus is at the entrance; The Fuggerei Museum on Mittlere Gasse 13 and 14 display the residents' living quarter and Fugger's family global business management. The water fountain on Mittlere Gasse was the site of the community water reservoir; City water, at ancient time, was drawn from it free of charge. The house where a mother was accused by her daughter for practicing sorcery, she was beheaded and burnt to death. The houses where residents with syphilis were treated. I consider this place on the top of visitor's lists. The entry fee is 4 euros, or discount at 3 euros if you buy 2-days hotel ticket card from the Tourist Information office (cost 7 euros, must show proof of your hotel reservation, allow using free public transportation and reduced price for the museums listed on the brochure.). Here is the Fuggerei's own website http://www.fugger.de/en/fuggerei.html

The Fuggerei is charming & interesting. The site is lovely, well marked & the information is in English as well as German.We loved being there - the church is particularly beautiful & the bomb bunker museum is fascinating & the information very well presented.

This is an excellent showpiece of social caring system. I was impressed with the excellent layout of the street and houses. Some of the houses serves as museum for the old and present condition of the rooms. the model of the present rooms is quite luxurious and it is impressive that the vision of the scheme is still been kept. the bunker and world war II exhibition and restoration after the war was the highlight of the tour. This was a very educational outing and should be a UNESCO world heritage site!!!

This is an important place to visit: it will show us how social systems developed in the early days. It may remind you of the Heiligen-Geist-HHospital in Lübeck. Very interesting is the place also due to the fact that will learn that the grand grand father of W A Mozart lived in the Fuggerei.

Flowers on the houses makes me impressed when I go to inside the Fuggerei social settlement.This is educational place. I learnt how they were living in this area . A few houses are using as a museum so we can understand how is organize the inside of the houses. Some people are still living in these houses with some rules. You should see if you come to Augsburg.

This is the first social housing development and I know nothing of the history. However the excellent museum tells the story of the Fugger family who were bankers to the Holy Roman Emperor. Mozart's great grandfather lived in the Fuggerei which contains streets of small houses which were lived in by needy families. Nowadays retired people live here. There is a bunker where an exhibition tells the story of the Fuggerei in World War II. There is also a lovely church.

We know people live here, but the attitude of the lady on the ticket desk was very forbidding and unwelcoming. The buildings and history are worth persevering with if you are content not to take photos.

The Fuggerei is well worth a visit while in Augsburg. The World's oldest social housing which is still in use today.Each apartment has a kitchen,bathroom,bedroom and living room. Ground floor apartments also have a garden including a shed all for under €1 rent per year (and a couple of prayers a day!) One ground floor apartment is unoccupied which you can visit.As well as the museum, you are free to wander the streets and there is an interesting wartime bunker exhibit.Look out for the doorbells, each is unique to help residents find their property before the installation of street lights!

In August we arrived at the main entrance of Fuggerei sometime before 19:30 hoping that we could still see something. We were glad to find that its closing time was 20:00. When we entered, an old lady called us back from a room. So I told her that we would like to buy a ticket inside. She said (in German) that it was closed, the museum was closed. I said that the time was 7:30 so there should still be 1/2 hour. By hard I uttered the phrase "halb Uhr" in German, but she would not let us in. Then I said, "If we could not come in today, we would not be able to come in." She let us buy the two tickets unwillingly; this process has already wasted us about 5 minutes. We went inside and visited the museum first. It was small but nice. However, when we were just about to leave the museum, we heard a loud voice chasing away people, and we knew it was the old lady. So we left the museum quickly. Then we saw a sign telling that there was a model apartment, and we decided to have a look there. On the way there was a little garden so I gazed around the garden first. When we reached the model apartment, the old lady was about the close the door there. She rudely banned our way in. I looked at the time, it was just 19:50, but she just closed the door, saying "Privat! Privat!". So we could only look from the window outside, but she quickly switched off the lights. I tried to take photos from the window. But even so was not allowed. She kept on bothering us until I said, "Could you stop bothering us?" and so on.The trip to Fuggerei was ruined because of her. I never dreamed that Germans were so impolite and unkind to people like us. We are Asians but before this incident I always thought that the Germans were okay.

Of course, nothing is a MUST-SEE. But the Fuggerei was, to me, a fascinating example of the earliest in public housing and planned community, built in the 16th Century and still operating. Its original goal was to provide low-cost housing for Catholics who had to promise to pray three times per day in order to live here. Sponsored by the wealthy Fuggerei merchant family, the walled community still functions in the middle of modern Augsburg.Entrance to the community (at a low cost per visitor) allows one to walk around, visit the small museum within, and most interestingly view a typical apartment, similar to what one would do if one were apartment hunting in a modern large development. Since I grew up in public housing, I loved visiting this first incarnation of it. Of course, most public housing is massive and maybe that was the wrong path to take as this small-scale community still seems a nice place to live.

We loved walking around here and seeing all the details. Really worth doing when in Augsburg. AA bit of history that is continuing.

Unlike many of the sights we visited in Germany this one had a lot of English translation, with the exception of the movie about the Fuggereis. Its very interesting with models of the interiors, both now and when the houses were originally built, as well as a museum and a wartime bunker explaining the devestation of the bombing and the rebuilding programme with lots of photos. The entry fee is also dood value compared to other sights.

The complex is nothing special, until you learn its history. 500 years ago the concept of "social housing" was not really widespread, and this project was - and still is - remarkable. Rent has been the same since then, a gulden (less than a Euro) per year - while the entrance for tourists is 4 years' rent...

Founded by Jakop Fugger, for the people of Augsburg. The museum is worth a visit. It is interesting to know that this settlement only requires about 1 Euro to live there. This was truly for the poor and it is a quaint little village in the middle of the town.

The idea of this attraction sounds better than it is. A nice way to spend half an hour, no more. Not really worth the 4€ entrance.