The Museum Tucherschloss and Hirsvogelsaal

The Tucherschloss (Tucher Castle) in the eastern old town is one of Nuremberg's cultural and historical treasures. The patrician Lorenz II Tucher (1490-1554) and his wife Katharina had a medieval farmstead converted into a representative refuge between 1533 and 1544. The estate has been in family ownership for almost 440 years since then.

The early Renaissance sandstone building probably did not serve as a permanent residence. The builders used the garden estate for social gatherings and had it richly furnished: with wall panelling, stained glass windows, precious tapestries, furniture and paintings. The picturesque castle has been considered a tourist attraction since the end of the 19th century. Many high-ranking personalities came to visit. From 1919 the diplomat Heinrich von Tucher (1853-1925) furnished the building as a secondary residence with exquisite works of art and furniture acquired abroad.

At the end of the Second World War the property was virtually completely burnt down. From 1948, the rescued art treasures found a temporary home in the newly furnished "Tuchersaal" at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum. The former architectural gem, on the other hand, lay fallow as a ruin. Reconstruction of the small palace only take place in proper style from 1964 to 1968. It succeeded primarily on the initiative and personal commitment of the banker Dr Hans Christoph von Tucher (1904-1968), who did not live to experience the opening.

Most of the exhibits in the top-class art collection were returned from the "Tuchersaal" to the little castle. The property was opened to the public for the first time as a museum from 2 February 1969. At that time, the Germanisches Nationalmuseum looked after the building as a branch office.

In 1972, Hans Christoph von Tucher's two sons handed the property over to the Free State of Bavaria and the City of Nuremberg in equal shares. Since then it has been run as a municipal museum. The Verbund der Museen der Stadt Nürnberg (Association of Museums of the City of Nuremberg) and the Bayerische Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen (Bavarian Department of State-owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes) in Munich run the museum jointly since 1994. It was reopened in 1998 after a fundamental redesign.

Using the Tucher trading family as an example, the museum depicts the cultural and social life of the Nuremberg patriciate within the historical development of the former imperial city. The valuable exhibits, owned by the Tucher’sche Kulturstiftung and entrusted to the museum on loan today, bring the former living environment of Nuremberg's leading elite to life in an authentic location. With the Hirsvogelsaal reconstructed in 2000 and the redesigned garden, the former patrician castle forms a self-contained "Renaissance island" on the edge of the old town.

Ulrike Berninger

• The objects of the Museum Tucherschloss and Hirsvogelsaal available in bavarikon

Collections of the Museum Tucherschloss and Hirsvogelsaal available in bavarikon

• The art collection belonging to the Tucher von Simmelsdorf family

Exhibitions of the Museum Tucherschloss and Hirsvogelsaal available in bavarikon

• The Tuchers. A patrician family from Nuremberg
• Hans Tucher and his Pilgrimage to the Holy Land 1479/80