Zum Grönländer

Zum Grönländer, a baroque merchant and residential house, stands on Petersstraße in Leipzig. The master builder George Werner raised it between 1749 and 1751 for Johann Martin Haugk, a member of the merchants' guild. Four wings wrap around a rectangular courtyard about fifteen by seven metres. The street once formed part of the Via Imperii, a major trade route, and it remains one of Leipzig's main shopping streets. No building on this stretch of the street is older.

Stand on Petersstraße and look up: the facade shows five storeys and seven window axes. A three-storey bay window fills the middle, and two reclining female figures flank it at the bottom. Between them gleams a golden relief of an Inuit in a kayak, added in 1885 to honour a rescue at sea. Around 1790 Martin von Haugk, the original builder's grandson, outfitted a ship for seal and whale hunting off Greenland. An Inuit in a kayak rescued the crew and steered the endangered ship into a safe bay. In gratitude, von Haugk invited the man to Leipzig, but he died on the way in Lübeck. Only his kayak and a wooden figure in his likeness reached the city. The boat spent many years on show in the house before moving to the Leipzig Museum of Ethnology.

In 1908 the building became a trade fair house, but after the Second World War it stood empty and fell into decay. Between 1992 and 1994 the architect Friedrich Gildemeier restored the historical exterior and reconstructed the baroque portal. Inside, only the baroque staircase and some rear vaults are original, and a glass roof spans the courtyard. The complex enjoys protection as a monument, its historic front contrasting with a rear entrance of glass and steel. The house even entered literature: Jean Paul, who lived across the street, titled his first book Grönländische Prozesse after it in 1783.