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Schwäbisch Hall

Old masters from the Würth collection

The 12th century Hospitalers' church was re-opened as a museum in November 2008. The extensively refurnished building has become a branch of the Kunsthalle Würth arts gallery- a few minutes walk distant – and the perfect accommodation of the important stock of old masters from the Würth Collection that includes the former Prince of Fürstenberg's picture treasure and many new purchases. Some exhibits of its former sacred furnishing could be returned to the Hospitalers' church.

The 'Madonna of mayor Jacob Meyer zum Hasen (Virgin of Mercy)' by Hans Holbein the Younger was added in January 2012 to the exquisite collection of old masters on display in the Hospitalers' church.

The renovation of the Hospitalers' church included rebuilding according to modern museum standards and appropriate restoration of the original Gothic roof framework from 1400/01, found to be the oldest of its kind in southern Germany. Many architectural supplements that had been improperly added during various periods of profane use had to be removed at first, decorative elements had to be exposed and cleaned, the natural stone facade was restored, the vault ribs of the choir and the jambs of the tracery windows were inside conserved and the roof framework was exposed so that the building could be seen again in its original shape, beauty and quality.

The high-quality collection is devoted to art of the German southwest - including the Lake of Constance territory and northern Switzerland - from the late Middle Ages to the early modern age. Its essential nucleus is the former Prince of Fürstenberg's picture treasure of Donaueschingen, acquired by Reinhold Würth in 2003. The significance of this lot for the history of arts and culture should be highly regarded, because most board pictures originated in a period from which few pictorial documents have survived the Iconoclasm that had been extremely radical in Swabia.

The phenomenal Family of the Children of Nature by Lucas Cranach the Elder and a whole lot from his workshop has been preserved, for example, including religious scenes, profane studies and portraits.

A portrait from Konstanz, dated about 1441/42, showing the married couple Wilhelm IV Graf von Schenkenstein and Agnes Gräfin von Werdenberg-Trochtelfingen should be pointed out as well, as should be many board pictures of the Master of Messkirch or the boards of the very important Antony-Retable of the Zurich Violet Master. The collection was meaningfully extended with board paintings and sculptures, for example with high-quality samples of Daniel Mauch, Tilman Riemenschneider and the environment of Hans Multscher. Without any doubt, further new entries by Lucas Cranach the Elder may be considered the highlights, though.

Opening hours

Tue-Sun 11 - 17 o'clock

closed on 24 and 31 Dec.,
25 Dec., 26 Dec. and 1 Jan., 12-17 o'clock

Im Weiler 1
D-74523 Schwäbisch Hall

Multi-storey car park Ritter

0791 94672330
0791 94672339

Admission free.

http://www.schwaebischhall.de//en/culture/museums/johanniterkirche