The World’s Oldest Welfare Institution
By Lothar. Filed in Germany |
We arrived in Augsburg, Germany on July 24th. We checked into the hotel ” Ibis Augsburg Bahnhof ” and returned our rental car. No more driving 100+ MPH for a while now !
We walked 20 minutes to the historic town center and admired the picturesque old merchant houses of the Fugger family.
A quick discourse about the history of the Fugger family :
In 1367, the weaver Hans Fugger came to Augsburg in order to find work in the city. He started a weaving factory in 1386 and laid the foundation for a rich trading company, doing business all over Europe. Initially, the Fuggers traded in silk, cotton and barchent ( a popular wool-cotton blend used for clothing in those days ). They became so wealthy and influental, that Jacob The Rich ( Fugger) financed the wedding of the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I to Bianca Maria Sforza in 1494.
In 1505, the Fugger family loaned money to the Pope, so he was able to hire his first Swiss Guard. They also were in the business of Catholic absolution ( giving money to pay off your sins ), and because of this, later got into trouble with the Protestant movement in Germany. In 1519, Jacob financed the election of Emperor Charles V, and in the process spent 852,000 Guilder to bribe the prince bishops. All this in turn guaranteed more trading priviliges, probably similiar to our lobbyist activities nowadays in Washington.
From 1514 to 1523, Jacob The Rich built a social institution, the “Fuggerei” in Augsburg.
The “Fuggerei” is the oldest welfare housing project in the world, which is still in existence. This Institution is still providing its services today, giving shelter and food to needy people. Today there are 67 buildings with 147 apartments, surrounded by a town wall and gates.
The admission criteria have not changed over the last 500 years : you have to be an Augsburg resident for at least 2 years, be Catholic, and be poor without any wrongdoing on your part. You are charged 1 Guilder or
0.88 Euro (about 1 USD) per year and have to say 3 prayers per day, if you want to stay there. The gates are closed at 10 PM every night, and if you arrive late, you have to pay a fee to enter. Mozart’s great-grandfather, Franz Mozart, also lived here for a while.
There is still a “Prince Fugger Private Bank” doing business in Augsburg and Fugger descendants own farmland in Swabia.
Back to our visit : this was our last day of this journey in Germany and we tried to find a restaurant in Augsburg that served good, basic German food. We had to fight our depression, considering the fact that the sabbatical was coming to an end. No such luck with finding German food !
It was Sunday evening and most of the restaurants were closed ! We found the Greek restaurant ” Poseidon “, located at the town square. We celebrated with Dolmades, Souvlaki and Moussaka. At least the Paulaner Weissbier was from Munich !