The former home of religious figure Martin Luther (1483-1546) in the eastern German town of Wittenberg will remain closed to the public until 2027 for renovations.
Work on the building, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will stabilise the climate inside the building, improve energy efficiency, add a new entrance area, create a space for events and a new permanent exhibition, according to Thomas Tassilo Müller, chairman of the Luther Memorials Foundation in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which includes Wittenberg.
Luther, a priest and theologian, was a scholar at the University of Wittenberg, and lived and worked for much of his adult life in the building.
He did some of his most important writing while in Wittenberg, including composing his 95 Theses, a series of intellectual objections to prevailing Catholic practices that became a central document of the Protestant Reformation.
The building has been a museum dedicated to the history of the Reformation since 1883. The Luther House belongs to the Luther Memorials Foundation, which is also responsible for Luther museums in the towns of Eisleben, Luther’s birthplace, and in Mansfeld, where he spent his childhood.
Around 2,000 exhibits have been removed from the display cases, according to Müller. The work will cost a total of €15.6 million ($15.9 million), he said, which is being jointly funded by the state and Germany’s federal government.
