GERMANY ~ Fugger and Welser Museum - Augsburg ~

... Beautiful interesting little museum in a significant and uniquely preserved fabric Renaissance building... it presents the histories of the most important Augsburg merchant families of the late 15th and 16thC, the Fuggers and the Welsers... who left an indelible mark not just on Augsburg, but also Europe and the rest of the world... the Fuggers especially, and the Welsers to a lesser extent were the major financiers of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Catholic Church and the development of trade with the New World and Asia... the Fuggers for instance took over from the de’ Medici family and had the European copper economy nailed down, while the Welsers’ power stretched to new German territories in the Americas like Venezuela... it is quite new, very informative and you really learn about these two super rich families... the museum tries to create an impression of the period through movies, ambient sound, projections and interactive displays... and with for us "postcard lovers"❤️ a really great special postmark to celebrate 150 years of postcards👍... Thanks a lot dear Dustin!!✿◕ ‿ ◕✿

"Augsburg is the German Florence, and the Fuggers are a match for the Medici."                                                                                              Philip Melanchthon -16thC

The third oldest German city after Neuss and Trier, Augsburg was founded by the Romans in 15BC.

The Fugger and Welser Museum is housed in the Renaissance building Wieselhaus, built around 1530 by another local figure, Johanne Wiesel, a successful optician of Augsburg who developed microscopes and telescopes as well as eye glasses. After 1550 the side building was extended. The arcades were walled up in the 17thC. They were re-opened and glazed as part of the extensive renovation of the building, and as a result the monument has regained its Latin flair.

Stamp:

Flowers
(Issued 01-07-2019)