Beschreibung
Right next to the Old Town Hall there is an impressive building made of red sandstone: The Melanchthonhaus memorial building and its corresponding museum. Bretten’s famous son Philipp Melanchthon was born here on February 16th, 1497 under the name Philipp Schwartzerdt as son of the Palatine smith and armourer Georg Schwartzerdt the Elder and his wife Barbara, former Reuter. During his life Melanchthon was reformer, humanist and „praeceptor germaniae“ (Teacher of Germany). He lived in Bretten until 1508 when he went to the latin school in Pforzheim. The original birthplace burned down during the city fire in 1689.In the beginning of the 18th century the brothers Würz of Bretten built a big halftimbered building as residential and business building on the preserved cellar vaults of Melanchthon’s birthplace. It was used as a residence and place of business for more than two centuries. The construction of today’s Melanchthonhaus started in 1897, the 400th birthday of Philipp Melanchthon. It opened in 1903. The northern front informs by its symbolism about Melanchthon’s life. The cities’ coats of arms at the balcony remind of the stations of his life: Bretten, Pforzheim, Heidelberg, Tübingen and Wittenberg.Today, besides the museum and a research center, the Melanchthon Memorial Building houses one of the most extensive specialized Melanchthon libraries and a documentation center of the international Melanchthon research. The museum showcases a memorial hall with frescoes and further rooms with about 13.000 books, 490 autographs, coats of arms, paintings, commemorative coins and graphics.
