- Trier
Show us what you’ve got – this long-established principle was also followed by the family who built their home on present-day Simeonstrasse around the year 1230. While the adjoining building barely visible from the main road was kept rather functional in its design, the visible façade boasted lavish colours, with white plasterwork, large double windows and patterned archway friezes.
The idea, after all, was to convey that the family knew what was architecturally en vogue at the time: Just 30 years prior, the crusaders of the 4th Crusade had conquered Constantinople and taken the splendour of the East back with them as thieving memento. The most valuable Byzantine treasures primarily reached the West through Venetian art dealers, thrilling the wealthy with their opulence and their gold and colourful style. Anyone who had the necessary cash would try and imitate this style, at least on a small scale – and so it was that the Dreikönigenhaus, which only got its name in the early modern era as a result of a painting it contained, had little in common with the comparatively simple Romanesque tower houses otherwise prevalent in the city.
Only the door on the first floor still serves as a reminder of its predecessors, nostalgically referencing the uncertain times that followed the extensive destruction of the ancient city wall, when fear of attack saw people try and protect their own four walls using mobile, easily removed wooden ladders. But these were no longer needed. Because by the time the Dreikönigenhaus was built, the medieval city wall was virtually finished. However, it’s not just about showing what you have financially; it’s also about showcasing your intellectual assets.