HOUSE HISTORY
The City Museum extends over three houses on Miltenberg's market square. House number 171, the Alte Amtskellerei or also called Haus Miltenberg, has a history that is just as checkered as the semi-detached house Nos. 173-175.
OFFICIAL CELLEREY / HOUSE MILTENBERG
The main building of today's museum was built in 1541 by the magistrate Bernhard von Hardheim. He was the supreme representative of the Archbishop of Mainz in Miltenberg and the surrounding area. His heirs sold the farm to Nikolaus Hürr, a senior official in the Mainz cathedral chapter.
In 1593 the property passed to the electoral steward Ambrosius Brosamer. He had the bay windows, the open spiral staircase and new doors and stucco ceilings installed, thereby demonstrating his social advancement and wealth.
After Brosamer's death, the electoral administration acquired the beautiful building in 1625 and used it from then on as an official winery. Even after the ecclesiastical principalities had been abolished in 1803, the function of the house initially remained the same under the new Princely Leiningen government. The home side changed several times in the following years.
When Miltenberg became part of Baden in 1806, the Baden rent officials moved in, and from 1810 the grand ducal Hesse-Darmstadt officials resided here. After the city passed to the Kingdom of Bavaria, the latter only changed employers, not their official headquarters. In 1826 the rent office was moved to Klingenberg.
From this point on, the "Miltenberg House" had to give up its function as an official building and various private individuals moved into the stately half-timbered house on the market square. Among them the merchant Georg Friedrich Schwaab and later the councilor and chronicler Michael Joseph Wirth, father of the famous painter and portraitist Philipp Wirth, who also lived in the rooms.
In 1913, the city bought the property to rededicate it as a vicarage. As before, the pastors also complained about the damp, unhealthy climate of the building and demanded that a heater be installed. This resulted in the desire for a general renovation, which resulted in a conversion to a museum building with a new concept for the permanent exhibition. In 1996 the permanent exhibition was opened in the Alte Amtskellerei.
SEMI-DETACHED HOUSE / FORMER POOR HOUSE
In 2006 the museum's extension opened, a semi-detached house and single monument from the late 16th century. The substance of this building with a mirrored floor plan has been preserved and the spatial structure has remained almost unchanged.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the double building functioned as a boys' school, then as an elementary school and finally as a girls' school. The house then served as the town's poor house for around 100 years.