Banqueting hall, 1973

Stadtarchiv Nürnberg, A40_L_1601_A_4
The banqueting hall on the 2nd floor of the rebuilt Tucherschloss

Before his death in 1968, Hans Christoph von Tucher had intended to not only use Tucherschloss as a private retirement residence. The building was opened as a museum for the first time on 2 February 1969.

The Tucher art treasures, which had been saved from destruction during the war and had been exhibited in the "Tuchersaal" at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum since 1948, were returned to Hirschelgasse. In the future, the castle was to be administered as a new branch of the largest cultural history museum in the German-speaking world and to be managed as a museum. The aim was to present the furnishings, some of which date back to the time when the castle was built, and some from the collection of the diplomat Heinrich von Tucher (1853-1925) and later purchases, together with the surviving works of art. An impression of the lifestyle and living style of the Nuremberg upper class since the early 16th century could not be conveyed more authentically anywhere else in the city.

The highlight of the exhibition at that time was the "Großes Tucherbuch". This probably most magnificent genealogical book from the late Renaissance was the most valuable cultural and historical but also non-material exhibit for the Tucher family. After the property was transferred to the City of Nuremberg and the Free State of Bavaria in 1972 and the museum became municipal, the magnificent manuscript was presented in a centrally positioned single display case in the restored castle’s "banqueting hall" until the 1980s. Today it is kept in the Stadtarchiv Nürnberg (Nuremberg City Archives).

Ulrike Berninger