(c) by Holger Leue
Description [EN]
The Franck House immediately catches the visitor's eye with its blue, ornate façade when walking from the market square into Untertorstraße. When the wine merchant Franz Valentin Franck had his smalt-blue palace built in 1745, he could not have imagined that the late-Baroque building would one day become a renowned cultural center. Over the course of history the building changed owners several times, among them the wine merchant Johann Georg Andreas Schulz, who deserves special mention. According to tradition, he invented the production of sparkling wine (Sekt) at the Franck House. Since 1987 the house has been owned by the town and, after its renovation, developed into a cultural center. Particularly worth seeing is the richly decorated festival hall on the upper floor with valuable wall coverings, stucco work and an elaborate ceiling painting that depicts the personification of the continents and, at its center, a scene from the Old Testament. In 1998 the fundamental restoration of the historic building was completed and the first exhibitions followed. Each year ten to twelve temporary exhibitions are shown in the rooms of the front exhibition area around the festival hall and in the rear exhibition area — the former barn. Visual art accounts for a large share, with about eight exhibitions annually. Weddings, receptions and concerts take place in the festival hall. The adjoining rooms, in addition to rotating exhibitions by regional artists, house a permanent display: well protected in display cases, the “smallest library in the world” is shown. It is a casket containing eleven miniature books as well as hand-inscribed collar studs, coins, matches, stamps and much more, all written by Valentin Kaufmann, a carpenter born in 1891. The trigger for this unique collection was a discussion about the world record in miniature writing in 1935, which prompted Kaufmann to take action and break the record himself. For example, on postcard “No. 6” he fitted 12,515 letters, 2,252 words and 30 numerals. The “smallest book in the world” fits inside a hazelnut. The year at the Franck House in Marktheidenfeld is always very varied: visual artists working in a wide range of styles present their works at the cultural center on Untertorstraße.
Accessibility
Marking of step edges
Yes
Access stairless
Yes
Access with ramp
Yes
Disabled toilet
Yes