"Inside the Simplicissimus House" Renchen Things to Do Tip by Nemorino

This was one of those situations where I was (at first) the only visitor to the museum (two others arrived later in the afternoon), so I was seized upon by one of the curators and given a very detailed and enthusiastic personal tour of the displays.

She was delighted that I had actually read parts of Simplicissimus and had some idea what she was talking about.

A similar thing had happened to me a few months before at the Grétry Museum in Liège, where I was the only visitor on a rainy Saturday morning.

My guide at the Simplicissimus House in Renchen turned out to be the widow of one of the artists whose illustrations were on display. She was a native of Renchen and assumed she was somehow descended from Grimmelshausen, who had ten children with his wife Catharina during the years they were living in Renchen.

For those who don’t get a personal tour of the displays, there are also free audio guides in German, English and French.

Admission to the Simplicissimus House costs all of 1.50 € for adults, 0.50 € for children and young people.

Second photo: An interior wall of the house, which has been left open to show how the house was constructed in the early eighteenth century.

Third photo: A room full of lithographs by A. Paul Weber, illustrating the Simplicissimus novel.

Fourth photo: This illustrated edition of Simplicissimus, from the year 1970, is the one we have at home. The Simplicissimus House in Renchen also has a copy of this edition on display, but their copy is in better condition than ours, without the coffee stains.

Address: Hauptstraße 59, 77871 Renchen
Directions: GPS 48°35'9.80" North; East 8° 0'42.60"
Phone: 07843 707-20
Website: http://www.simplicissimushaus.de/