Bavarian Rent Control

December 26, 2008 12:00 AM

Residents of the Fuggerei in Augsburg pay an annual rent of just one Rheinischer Gulden, the same as in 1520. There are a few conditions: one must be poor, Catholic, an Augsburg resident for two years, and pray thrice daily for the souls of the Fuggers.
posted by Knappster (11 comments total)

Well, you hear the souls of the Fuggers and you think "this is one of those places that really ought to choose a different name", like Arsoli and Pisz and Anus and Dildo. Then you realize that they don't speak English in those places so the sounds probably don't mean the same thing, so maybe they don't have choose a different name. Then you remember that they actually do speak English in Dildo, Newfoundland and you're like "what the fug?"
posted by twoleftfeet at 1:44 AM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Unfortunately a Rheinischer Gulden, corrected for inflation since 1520, is a million euro.
posted by jouke at 1:45 AM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

@twoleftfeet - also, they're only 200 kms from Fucking.
posted by kcds at 8:28 AM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Then you remember that they actually do speak English in Dildo, Newfoundland[...]

You've obviously never been to Newfoundland.
posted by Lemurrhea at 8:29 AM on December 26, 2008 [4 favorites]

Do you think the matriarch of the Fuggers is considered the Mother Fugger?
posted by MythMaker at 9:36 AM on December 26, 2008

Was ist diese Fuggerei?
posted by oaf at 10:31 AM on December 26, 2008

These Fuggers don't deserve the puns that are being heaped upon their name. Have some respect, people. Imagine yourself in the Fuggers' shoes.
posted by sonic meat machine at 10:31 AM on December 26, 2008

"Fugger the Rich" sounds like an archaic socialist slogan.
posted by brundlefly at 11:17 AM on December 26, 2008

I've been praying for the souls of Ed and Tuli since the sixties.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 11:42 AM on December 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Here's another interesting story about Jakob Fugger, who endowed the Fuggerei. Jakob was a devout Catholic, so he endowed a chapel in the local church, St Anna's, which includes his sarcophagus. Sometime later, St Anna's becomes Lutheran. Not wanting to upset the Fuggers, the church continues both Catholic and Lutheran services. In order to accommodate this, the church's pews were made with rotating backs so that congregants could face toward the Fugger chapel for Catholic services and towards the Lutheran altar for protestant services.

I'm not sure if Catholic services are still held there, but the rotating pew backs remain. Here's a picture showing the pews and another shot giving a better view of the mechanism.
posted by jedicus at 4:29 PM on December 26, 2008 [3 favorites]

Ich bien ein fugger!
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:36 PM on December 28, 2008