Fulda - House Rittergasse 4

Johann Dientzenhofer was sent to Rome in the autumn of 1699 by the Elector of Bamberg, Lothar Franz von Schönborn, to perfect his architectural skills. On his return in September 1700, Johann was appointed court architect in Fulda, the capital of the Electorate of Hesse, by the Prince-Count Adalbert I von Schleifras (1650-1714) on the recommendation of Lothar Franz von Schönborn.

Johann's first major church was the abbey church, the House of St. Salvator, in Fulda (1704-12) in the Italian Baroque style.

In 1707, Johann Dientzenhofer built a house for his family in the Rittergasse in the centre of the old town of Fulda.

The building even used materials from the construction of the Fulda Cathedral, in which Johann Dientzenhofer participated. A stone statue of St. John of Nepomuk, Johann Dientzenhofer's patron saint, is still in a niche on the northeastern edge of the building.

In 1708, Johann Dientzenhofer and his family moved permanently to Bamberg, where he was appointed court architect to the Elector of Bamberg, Lothar Franz von Schönborn, after the death of his brother Leonhard Dientzenhofer.

The façade of the massive building made of sandstone jasper is divided by five window axes and a horizontally distinctive cornice separating two floors. While the windows on the ground floor are frameless and with capstones, the windows on the upper floors are characterised by numerous profiled ear mouldings. The mansard roof is characterized by a central dwarf house with a triangular gable. Segmentally arched enclosing dormers are visible on the sides.

The house Rittergasse 4 is the seat of the Social Service for Catholic Women (SkF).