Palais Vischer
Open from April to October. The building, purchased privately by the city of Calw in 1961, now houses the city’s museum. It is the birthplace of Ludwig Uhland’s wife. Built by R. Fischer in 1791, the palace still has its original interior.
As an alternative to the visit to the Hermann Hesse Museum, which will be closed until 2024 due to renovation measures, a presentation about Hermann Hesse was newly set up in the Palais Vischer in 2021, providing an overview of the poet’s life stages and his work as a painter in his adopted home of Montagnola. In addition, two rooms deal intensively with the theme of the “Steppenwolf” novel.
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Description
The stately building, in which the Museum of the City is now located, was built between 1787 and 1791 by the head of the raft and timber trading company Johann Martin Vischer according to plans by the Duke of Stuttgart’s chief building director Reinhard Fischer. Some interiors have been preserved in their original state and give an insight into the upscale living culture of the time. The museum displays sights on the city’s history in 18 rooms, provides information on special events and introduces important people. Topics include: the Calwer Compagnie as an important economic factor in Württemberg, the life and work of the world-famous pharmacist family Gärtner, the Calwer Ulrich Rülein and his most important book on mining and the peasant world of the Calwer Forest.
Significance for the Literary Walk:
Built between 1787 and 1791 by the ducal court building director R. F. H. Fischer for Johann Martin Vischer (1751 – 1801), the head of the mighty and wealthy Calwer raft and timber trading company in the 18th century. Birthplace of Emilie Vischer (1799 -1881), later wife of the poet Ludwig Uhland (1787 – 1862). Today the Museum of the City of Calw.
Significance for the “Life with Water” tour:
Calw was in the 17. and 18th century, thanks to the successful activity of the Calwer Zeughandlungs-Compagnie (Witness = Cloth, Wollstoffe), the richest industrial city of Württemberg. Part of the wealth was also generated by the timber trade, a privilege conferred by the princes (see also Station 3). The Vischer family was in charge of this business. Johann Martin Vischer was able to afford to buy three houses in Bischofstraße in 1787, to have them demolished and to have this Louis Seize-style palace built in its place with outbuildings (insured value: 20,000 guilders).