House Eichel

Width at front: c. 9.66 metres
The Eichel was built opposite the synagogue. The site belonged to the Jewish community and the house was the official residence of the chief rabbi. With its frontal width of over nine and a half metres this was one of the largest houses in the Judengasse. Besides the privilege of living in this spacious house, the rabbis had other benefits: for example, they were exempt from the house tax paid by the occupants of the other houses. The house was the origin of a dramatic event in 1711. In the night of 14 January the great fire started here. The blaze destroyed the entire Judengasse in just a few days. The rabbi at that time was Naphtali Herz Kohen, and he was blamed for the disaster. In the great fires in the Judengasse in 1711, 1721 and 1796 the house was destroyed three times. It was rebuilt after the first two fires, but after the 1796 fire it was decided to redevelop the entire northern end of the Judengasse on spacious lines, in the course of which the house disappeared finally.