The Schönhof (pronounced [ʃøːnhoːf], literally translated 'Beautiful Court') is the oldest Renaissance-building in Görlitz, Germany.

The building on Bretheren Street 8 (Brüderstraße) was constructed by Wendel Roskopf in 1526 over the surviving stone foundations after the town fire in 1525.

Favored by its topographical location, the comfortably furnished representative building served as a royal guesthouse since the 14th century.

This hall was obstructed in the course of the centuries - however, its walls are accessible to the research [1]: 159 The Schönhof is located between the Lower Market Square and the Bretheren Street.

Through all three passed the medieval trade route Via Regia, which connected Wroclaw, Görlitz and Leipzig from Kyiv and led to Santiago de Compostela.

All incoming goods were taxed at the city's scales and had to be stored and offered to the public in merchants' houses – the so-called Staple Right.

The Schönhof is located next to those merchant houses, directly opposite the court wing of the town hall.

[1]: 160  Since that time, and due to its special location, the building accommodated sovereigns who acted as the supreme judicial authority at the nearby court.

[2]: 12f The predecessor building of the Schönhof was at that time a timber-framed house, whose ground plan was reconstructed by beam impressions in the floor of the cellar.

[1]: 161 The city quickly reached a solid economic base and wealthy families married merchants and formed the Görlitz nobility.

[3]: 341 The Schönhof was thus located directly opposite the town hall and on the long-distance trade route Via Regia.

[1]: 161  Among other things, a hall was built on the eastern side of the courtyard, which was decorated with draperies, wood paneling and wall paintings.

The King Albert the Magnanimous, his son Ladislaus the Posthumous and George of Kunštát and Podebrady used the Schönhof as royal guesthouse.

In 1412 the building went to Consul Francisco Pleczil,[1]: 161  followed by Kaspar Lelau (mayor during the Hussite wars) and Niclas Jeronimi (accused of high treason as a council member and expelled from the city in 1479).

[1]: 163 Despite the difficult economic conditions between 1500 and 1530, the Görlitz upper class still earned money with their buildings and wanted their wealth and influence to be reflected in them.

[1]: 48 [1]: 333  The well-traveled and well-connected merchants were free in the design of their houses and no legitimation to a bishop was necessary (unlike, for example, in Augsburg and Wrocław).

Due to the turmoil Wrocław gained back its staple rights and henceforth acted as an economic competitor.

The historian Christopf Ulricher assumes that the date 1526 on the building facade is more likely the start of the reconstruction phase rather than its completion.

When building the Schönhof in 1526, Roskopf was guided by the Vladislav Hall, the Equestrian staircase and the Courtroom of Prague Castle, where he learned the new Renaissance architecture under the master builder Benedikt Rejt.

[2]: 97 The builder had new roofs erected, designed the facade in Renaissance style and pulled in thirteen painted wooden beam ceilings.

[2]: 296 At the same time as the Schönhof, Peterstrasse 8 was built by Onoffriu's brother Franz Schneider – also under the master builder Wendel Roskopf.

From private donations of Silesian cultural property and especially with permanent loans from the federal government, more than 12,000 exhibits were collected in Görlitz.