When did Martin Luther stay in this house?

From 1498 to 1501, as a teenage Latin-school pupil boarding with the Cotta and Schalbe families.

How old is the building?

It dates to 1356, one of the oldest half-timbered houses in Thuringia; it has been a museum since 1956 and was rebuilt inside between 2013 and 2015.

What does the museum's exhibition cover?

Luther's Bible and its afterlife in German culture, plus a special exhibition on the building's wartime use by the "Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life", 1939 to 1945.

What are the opening hours and admission?

Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–17:00, closed Mondays. €11 adults, €7 reduced, €9 seniors, under 6 free.

Museum

Est. 1956

Lutherhaus Eisenach

Lutherplatz 8, 99817 Eisenach

About This Site

The Lutherhaus is a half-timbered house of 1356, one of the oldest half-timbered houses in Thuringia, where the teenage Martin Luther boarded with the Cotta and Schalbe families while he attended the Latin school.^[1] It has been a museum since 1956, rebuilt inside between 2013 and 2015 around a single exhibition: Luther and the Bible.

A schoolboy's lodging, 1498 to 1501

Luther came to Eisenach to prepare for university at the Lateinschule zu St. Georgen and lodged in this house, then already two and a half centuries old, with the Cotta and Schalbe families. The rooms associated with that stay have been recognised as a Reformation site since the nineteenth century, well before the building became a formal museum.

Luther and the Bible, and a harder history, 1939–1945

The house's award-winning permanent exhibition is built around a single subject: Luther's Bible and its afterlife in German culture. A special exhibition inside addresses a harder history from the same building's later use — the wartime "Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life", 1939 to 1945 — and a contemporary sculpture by Ai Weiwei, "Man in a Cube", sits inside a museum otherwise built around the sixteenth century.^[1]

Questions visitors ask

When did Martin Luther stay in this house?: From 1498 to 1501, as a teenage Latin-school pupil boarding with the Cotta and Schalbe families.
How old is the building?: It dates to 1356, one of the oldest half-timbered houses in Thuringia; it has been a museum since 1956 and was rebuilt inside between 2013 and 2015.^[1]
What does the museum's exhibition cover?: Luther's Bible and its afterlife in German culture, plus a special exhibition on the building's wartime use by the "Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Church Life", 1939 to 1945.^[1]
What are the opening hours and admission?: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–17:00, closed Mondays. €11 adults, €7 reduced, €9 seniors, under 6 free.