The Pied Piper's House or Rattenfängerhaus ("Rat Catcher's House") is a half-timbered building in

Hamelin Hameln ( ; ) is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Hameln-Pyrmont and has a population of roughly 57,000. Hamelin is best known for the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. History Hameln ...

. It is named after an inscription on its side which purports to be an eyewitness account of the events of the

Pied Piper of Hamelin The Pied Piper of Hamelin (, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to the Middle Ages. The earliest refer ...

story,[Willy Krogmann ''Der Rattenfänger von Hameln: Eine Untersuchung über das werden der sage'' Page 67 Published by E. Ebering, 1934. Original from the University of Michigan — Digitized June 12, 2007 Accessed via Google Books September 3, 2008] describing the departure of the

children on 26 June 1284. An English translation given on a plaque reads: Although the stone façade dates from 1602, the building itself is much older. The façade was built for Mayor Hermann Arendes by the architects Johann Hundertossen and/or Eberhard Wilkening in the style of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. The picture dated 1900 shows the adjacent legendary "Street without Music" with a view of buildings that no longer stand today. The stone structure pictured to the left of the Pied Piper's House is also no longer in existence. The bay window on the left of the building is called the ''Utlucht'', which means "looking out" in

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

. There was a highly decorated gable mounted here before 1850, parts of which may be seen at the

lapidarium A lapidarium is a place where stone (Latin: ) monuments and fragments of archaeological interest are exhibited. They can include stone epigraphy, epigraphs; statues; architectural elements such as columns, cornices, and acroterions; bas relief ...

of the Hamelin Museum. The building is now a Hamelin City-owned restaurant. There are many works of art at the Pied Piper's House. They have been purchased by the city museum and should be available to be seen at the re-opening in the summer.

Notes

External links

Pied Piper House Blog
{{coord, 52.1042, N, 9.3607, E, source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Tourist attractions in Lower Saxony Buildings and structures in Hameln-Pyrmont Houses in Germany Pied Piper of Hamelin