The Fuggerei is the world's oldest public housing complex still in use. It is a walled enclave within the city of Augsburg, Bavaria. It takes its name from the Fugger family and was founded in 1516 by Jakob Fugger the Younger (known as "Jakob Fugger the Rich") as a place where the needy citizens of Augsburg could be housed. By 1523, 52 houses had been built, and in the coming years the area expanded with various streets, small squares and a church. The gates were locked at night, so the Fuggerei was, in its own right, very similar to a small independent medieval town. It is still inhabited today, affording it the status of being the oldest public housing project in the world.
The rent was and still is one Rhenish gulden per year (equivalent to 0.88 euros), as well as to make three daily prayers for the current owners of the Fuggerei – the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Nicene Creed – and to work a part-time job in the community. [1] The conditions to live there remain the same as they were 500 years ago: one must have lived at least two years in Augsburg, be of the Catholic faith and have become indigent without debt. The five gates are still locked every day at 10 PM.
Housing units in the area consist of 45 to 65 square metre (500–700 square foot) apartments, but because each unit has its own street entrance it simulates living in a house. There is no shared accommodation; each family has its own apartment, which includes a kitchen, a parlour, a bedroom and a tiny spare room, altogether totalling about 60 square metres. Ground-floor apartments all have a small garden and garden shed, while upper-floor apartments have an attic. All apartments have modern conveniences such as television and running water. One ground-floor apartment is uninhabited, serving as a museum open to the public. The doorbells have elaborate shapes, each being unique, dating back to before the installation of streetlights when residents could identify their door by feeling the handle in the dark. [2]
The Fugger family initially established their wealth in weaving and merchandising. Jakob the Rich expanded their interests into silver mining and trading with Venice. Additionally he was a financier and counted the Vatican as a notable client. The family became financial backers of the Habsburg family, and he financed the successful election of Charles V as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1519. [2]
The Fuggerei was first built between 1514 and 1523 under the supervision of the architect Thomas Krebs, and in 1582, Hans Holl added St. Mark's Church to the settlement. Expanded further in 1880 and 1938, the Fuggerei today comprises 67 houses with 147 apartments, a well and an administrative building.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's great-grandfather, the mason Franz Mozart, lived in the Fuggerei between 1681 and 1694 and is commemorated today by a stone plaque.
The Fuggerei was heavily damaged by the bombings of Augsburg during World War II but has been rebuilt in its original style.
The Fuggerei is supported by a charitable trust established in 1520 which Jakob Fugger funded with an initial deposit of 10,000 guilders. [2] According to The Wall Street Journal , the trust has been carefully managed with most of its income coming from forestry holdings, which the Fugger family favoured since the 17th century after losing money on higher yielding investments. The annual return on the trust has ranged from an after-inflation rate of 0.5% to 2%. The Fugger family foundation is currently headed by Maria-Elisabeth Gräfin Thun-Fugger, née Gräfin Fugger von Kirchberg, who lives at Kirchberg Castle. Other member of the foundations's board are Alexander Graf Fugger-Babenhausen and Maria-Theresia Gräfin Fugger-Glött. All three still existing branches of the Fugger family are thus represented. [3] The trust is administered by Wolf-Dietrich Graf von Hundt. [2]
As of 2020, the fee for a tour into the Fuggerei is 6.50 euro, over seven times the annual rent. [4]
Augsburg is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben with an impressive Altstadt. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is the third-largest city in Bavaria with a population of 300,000 inhabitants, with 885,000 in its metropolitan area.
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction. It is used as a residential, office building, or other functions including hotel, retail, or with multiple purposes combined. Residential high-rise buildings are also known in some varieties of English, such as British English, as tower blocks and may be referred to as MDUs, standing for multi-dwelling units. A very tall high-rise building is referred to as a skyscraper.
The House of Fugger is a German family that was historically a prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists. Alongside the Welser family, the Fugger family controlled much of the European economy in the sixteenth century and accumulated enormous wealth. The Fuggers held a near monopoly on the European copper market.
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Jakob Fuggerof the Lily, also known as Jakob Fuggerthe Rich or sometimes Jakob II, was a major German merchant, mining entrepreneur, and banker. He was a descendant of the Fugger merchant family located in the Mixed Imperial City of Augsburg, he was born and later also elevated through marriage to Grand Burgher of Augsburg. Within a few decades, he expanded the family firm to a business operating in all of Europe. He began his education at the age of 14 in Venice, which also remained his main residence until 1487. At the same time, he was a cleric and held several prebendaries, even though he lived in a monastery, Jakob found time to study the history of investment in early Asian markets. American journalist Greg Steinmetz has estimated his overall wealth to be around $400 billion in today’s money, equivalent to 2% of the GDP of Europe at that time.
A three-decker, triple-decker triplex or stacked triplex, in the United States, is a three-story (triplex) apartment building. These buildings are typically of light-framed, wood construction, where each floor usually consists of a single apartment, and frequently, originally, extended families lived in two, or all three floors. Both stand-alone and semi-detached versions are common.
Multifamily residential is a classification of housing where multiple separate housing units for residential inhabitants are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex. Units can be next to each other, or stacked on top of each other. A common form is an apartment building. Many intentional communities incorporate multifamily residences, such as in cohousing projects. Sometimes units in a multifamily residential building are condominiums, where typically the units are owned individually rather than leased from a single apartment building owner.
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Kirchheim or Kirchheim in Schwaben is a municipality and a market town in the district of Unterallgäu in the region of Swabia (Schwaben) in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. The town was greatly influenced by the Fugger family. North-east of the town lies the Augsburg Western Woods Nature Park.
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The House of Kirchberg were a Swabian aristocratic family, once wealthy that held the County of Kirchberg, mainly south of Ulm, on the right and left of the Iller. They are difficult to document, but at the end of the early Middle Ages and the beginning of the High Middle Ages they may have had a significance that went beyond regional power. By the end of the 12th century, the family had split into two lines, later into three, becoming impoverished towards the end of the Middle Ages and dying out in 1510 after the sale of their possessions and rights.
Tratzberg Castle is a castle in Jenbach, Tyrol, Austria. Tratzberg Castle is located on a steep ridge above Jenbach in the Austrian part of Tyrol. It is an excellent example of palace architecture typical for the alpine parts of the Holy Roman Empire during the late Gothic and early Renaissance period. The castle was built in its present form in 1500 mostly by the brothers Veit-Jakob and Simon Tänzl. Today Tratzberg Castle is owned and inhabited by Count Ulrich Goëss-Enzenberg and his wife Katrin Goëss-Enzenberg. Tratzberg is also one of the best preserved castles in Austria, having many of its original furnishings and fittings.
Joseph-Ernst Graf Fugger von Glött , since 1940: Fürst Fugger von Glött was a German politician and representative of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria. He was a member of the Bundestag of Germany between 1949 and 1953. From 1954 to 1962 he was a member of the Landtag of Bavaria. He is a member of the famed Fugger family, the preeminent bankers of the renaissance era.
The von Wattenwyl house on Herrengasse 23 is a historic building in Bern, Switzerland, named after the von Wattenwyl family who owned it for over 200 years.
Georg Fuggervon der Lilie (1453–1506) was a German merchant of the Fugger dynasty.
Raymund or Raimund Fugger was a German businessman, Imperial Count and art collector of the 'of the Lily' branch of the Fugger family.
Count Wilhelm IV of Eberstein was a member of the Swabian noble Eberstein family. His father, Bernhard III (1459–1526) was president of the Reichskammergericht from 1510 to 1520. His mother was Countess Kunigunde of Sonnenberg (1472–1538).