Hölderlinturm

Description

In Tübingen the Hölderlin-Museum in the Hölderlinturm commemorates the life and work of the poet Friedrich Hölderlin, who lived there from 3 May 1807 until his death in 1843. The ensemble of the tower and the adjoining house is one of the city's distinctive memorial sites.

The tower’s base dates to the 13th century and was part of the medieval town fortifications on the northern bank of the Neckar. An adjoining residential house can be traced back to the early 17th century; in the late 18th century the building received an octagonal upper storey.

In 1807 a master carpenter bought the property and took Hölderlin in, who from then on occupied a simply furnished room on the first floor. During his stay Hölderlin continued to write, often under the pseudonym Scardanelli, and received occasional visitors from literary and academic circles. The owner expanded the house several times until 1828; after his death his daughter took over the poet’s care.

In 1874 the building passed into the ownership of a shoemaker who extended it and installed a bathhouse. A fire in December of the following year largely destroyed the tower; on the existing foundations a round tower with a steeper roof and a larger annex was subsequently erected. The building plans already bore the name “Hölderlin’s Turm.”

The city of Tübingen acquired the house in 1921 with the help of the Association for the Preservation and Acquisition of the Hölderlinturm. In 1984 the interiors were adjusted in their spatial layout to reflect Hölderlin’s time. A comprehensive renovation and redesign, including a revision of the permanent exhibition, took place from August 2017 to February 2020.

Today the tower, together with the adjoining house, houses the Hölderlin-Museum with a permanent exhibition, rotating special exhibitions and a reference library. The museum is operated by the city of Tübingen in close cooperation with the Hölderlin-Gesellschaft, founded in 1943, which is based in the house.