Marien-Apotheke (Marktplatz 10)

The house opposite the Town Hall was built in 1488 for Mayor Jagstheimer and was changed into a chemist’s shop in 1812. The statue of the Virgin Mary below the bay window of the attractive half-timbered house gave the chemist’s shop its name. The original chemist’s furnishings still exist, among them the beautiful octagonal prescription desk with its brass top and figures of St. Cosmas and St. Damian.

As with many other views of the town of Rothenburg, the Chemist’s Shop of the Virgin Mary also served Carl Spitzweg as a motive for his Sketchbook in 1858: this sketch was used as a draft for his picture “The infatuated commissioner”. The bronze mortar, which now stands near the entrance in the dispensary, can be seen on the picture. The original drawings are kept in the Copperplate Engraving Cabinet in Munich.

In the Thirty Years War the house belonged to the former Mayor Nusch, who rescued Rothenburg with the famous “Meistertrunk” (Master-drink). At the time it was the meeting-place for many political negotiations.