Bürgerspital zum Heiligen Geist

The economic foundation of the Stiftung is based on its extensive properties and winery, which today is one of the oldest and largest German vineyards.

Johannes von Steren (about 1270-1329), a Würzburg patrician of ministerial origin, and his wife Mergardis transferred their property at Semmelstraße 2 to the town to take care of poor and sick people around 1316, thereby establishing the "Neues Spital" "Citizens' Hospital of the Holy Spirit".

Von Steren decreed that the foundation in the royal residence in Würzburg should not be passed on by the influential church, but by the mayor, a decision which "placed the family somewhat at a standstill" and sign of the then-emerging civil society.

[1] In a document dated June 23, 1319, Prince-Archbishop Gottfried III of Hohenlohe authorized the partial exhortation of the "Neue Spital" and its administration by three civic carers.

The courtyard with its arcades was built according to plans by Würzburg master builder Andreas Müller, a companion of Balthasar Neumann.