The house is fascinating for many reasons but perhaps the most compelling factor for me lies in how the house reflects what it must have been like to live in Nuremberg in the late 17 th century and to imagine how the occupants would have lived.
The house was built at a time when religious strife had played a painful part in Europe for many decades. Inside one of the open doors is a picture of Martin Luther, the 16 th century theologian, whose writings had inspired the Protestant Reformation and this, together with three miniature books of inspirational hymns and prayers in one of the two bedrooms on the upper floor, informs us that the house was owned by a Lutheran family.
On the other door is the slightly damaged head of a unicorn which tells us that the house had belonged to an apothecary. His wife would have had the responsibility of running the home efficiently which was vital for the wellbeing of the family and their servants particularly during the winter months when families had to rely on their stores.
Few women could read and reading matter for those who could the scope was limited to the Bible and texts about domestic management which must often have been very dull. The house would therefore have been a diverting as well as useful visual aid for teaching all the young women of the house about the practical aspects of household management, from the preservation of food to the acquisition and storing of linen.
In my imagination I would probably have been a servant in this house. I would have had to scrub and clean, cook, prepare the sausages and hams ready to hang in the chimney to smoke, make the pickles and preserves and look after the hens.
