In a few more years, the Kammerzell House at the Place de la Cathedral in Strasbourg will celebrate its 600th anniversary. If only the walls could talk, how many stories and names we would hear! The “old house,” as it was called until the mid-19th century, would tell us about the draper Hans Jaeger, who was the first to build it in 1427. And it would also tell us about Martin Braun, a cheese merchant, who at the end of the 16th century ordered to demolish everything except the ground floor with stone arches and built three new floors instead. And to showcase his wealth, he commissioned the best wood craftsmen to decorate the facade with carved statues so that rumors spread throughout France and Germany. After Braun and his descendants, the grocer Philippe-François Kammerzell acquired the house. Since then, the mid-19th century, it has been named after him.

Late Gothic, timber framing, Renaissance—the styles complement each other without harming but creating complex patterns instead around 75 windows and in inter-floor space. The house is full of symbols and allegories, and you can wander around it for hours, deciphering the messages of long-gone artists. For example, there are three female statues on the coigns of the floors. They personify faith, hope, and love, the essential Christian virtues; at the feet of each is a bird, also a symbol, in this case, of Christ and his commandments. Cherubs are depicted with instruments: organ, drum, harp, castanets. Their statues symbolize the joy that accompanies the name of Christ. Five human senses are also represented by five female figures (with a mirror, flowers, a goblet, a fruit basket, a viola in hand). Five men embody the stages of life, from a child riding on a stick to a skull. The Nine Worthies are medieval depictions of the best men and women from Lucretia and Virginia to Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great. The frescoes inside the house were made by local artist Leo Schnug at the beginning of the 20th century (the Ship of Fools and the Punishment of Tantalus).

Kammerzell House welcomes all visitors. Now, there is a hotel and a restaurant where everyone can become acquainted with history.