The önhofGö(, literally translated 'Beautiful Court') is the oldest Renaissance-building in Görlitz, Germany. The building on Bretheren Street 8 (Brüderstraße) was constructed by Wendel Roskopf in 1526 over the surviving stone foundations after the town fire in 1525.
Favored by its topographical location, the comfortably furnished representative building served as a royal guesthouse since the 14th century. Its historical and architectural value was recognized early on and saved the house from far-reaching conversion measures and even demolitions.
A central hall inside the building extends over all floors, thus the house corresponds to the type of a Görlitz hall house. This hall was obstructed in the course of the centuries - however, its walls are accessible to the research
Location
The Schönhof is located between the Lower Market Square and the Bretheren Street. The Bretheren Street connects the Lower Market Square with the Upper Market Square. Through all three passed the medieval trade route Via Regia, which connected Wroclaw, Görlitz and Leipzig from Kyiv and led to Santiago de Compostela. All incoming goods were taxed at the city's scales and had to be stored and offered to the public in merchants' houses – the so-called Staple Right. The Schönhof is located next to those merchant houses, directly opposite the court wing of the town hall. Besides the location next to the parish church of St. Peter and Paul and Woad House, this is the most prominent location in the medieval town.
History
The history of this building dates back to the 13th century. Since that time, and due to its special location, the building accommodated sovereigns who acted as the supreme judicial authority at the nearby court. Throughout the centuries the building was changed multiple times to meet the contemporary demands of the nobility; it was connected to two other buildings and was severely damaged by the town fire in 1525. As a result, there are extremely complex architectural findings that make it difficult to reconstruct the conversions accurately.
13th to 16th century
In the 13th century, Bohemian servants and wealthy families lived closely together in multiple courtyards. Recorded courtyards of that time are the Woad House, the town hall building on Lower Market Square 6, the corner Neißstraße-Hainwald and the predecessor building of the Holy Trinity Church on Upper Market Square. The courtyards were spread over the whole medieval town and were often located next to craftsman houses.
The predecessor building of the Schönhof was at that time a timber-framed house, whose ground plan was reconstructed by beam impressions in the floor of the cellar. It was probably constructed in the first half of the 13th century. A second building phase could be dated to the middle of the century. At that time the building was used as a courtyard as well. Only a stone cell of that building is preserved. The adjacent smaller stone building provided a passage to the fish market on the other side. Later it was walled up and a storey was placed above it.
The city quickly reached a solid economic base and wealthy families married merchants and formed the Görlitz nobility. Towards the end of the 13th century, the town gained more and more local self-government so that the Bohemian state administration became redundant. In 1303, Görlitz received town privileges and began planning an administration building, but decided to buy the courtyard on Lower Market Square 6 – today's town hall.
The Schönhof was thus located directly opposite the town hall and on the long-distance trade route Via Regia. Two further construction phases followed until 1400, during which it was fundamentally rebuilt again in 1400. Among other things, a hall was built on the eastern side of the courtyard, which was decorated with draperies, wood paneling and wall paintings. Two 3.5m tall pointed arch windows brought light into the room. They were decreased to 1.75m and 2.3m height before the town fire in 1525.
In 1405 Wenceslaus IV stayed in the Schönhof. For this occasion a wooden walkway was built towards the town hall. The King Albert the Magnanimous, his son Ladislaus the Posthumous and George of Kunštát and Podebrady used the Schönhof as royal guesthouse.
The owners of the building can be traced back continuously to 1400. Therefore, the first known owners are Niclas Merten and Caspar Geiske. In 1412 the building went to Consul Francisco Pleczil, followed by Kaspar Lelau (mayor during the Hussite wars) and Niclas Jeronimi (accused of high treason as a council member and expelled from the city in 1479). All owners belonged to the Görlitz establishment.