Station: [7] Rosing Farm - Outside

This is Rosinger Hof – Rosing Farm – which is now our museum restaurant. The house was built in 1796 and originally stood in a hamlet called Rosing, which is part of the Zell neighbourhood in the district town of Neuburg an der Donau. 

In 1796, the settlement commission was planning to build “farmhouses for colonists” in Rosing. The background to this was that – as part of its settlement policy for the fenland – the commission wanted to provide a livelihood mainly for people who were poor, but hard-working. In other words: entire farms were being dowled out at government expense. The buyers were meant to pay them off later on relaxed terms. 

First, roads were built to the construction sites in the fen. Then, using limestone from the quarries beyond Neuburg, solid stone houses were erected -- using timber posts as foundations. The buildings were generously designed, with living quarters, stables, a hay barn and a second barn. The settlement commission was expecting farming to be profitable.

Each farm cost around seventeen hundred guilders to build. The farms were offered for sale at a price of eight hundred guilders. But nobody wanted to buy them, especially since smaller farms were available for less money in the surrounding area – beyond the fen. After the farms had stood empty for two years, and thieves had already stripped them of locks and bolts, they were sold off for 700 guilders apiece. 

This farm, Rosinger Hof, was one of those settlers’ houses, though we were only able to salvage the roof truss and the ceilings for our museum. The house itself was reconstructed. The actual settlers’ house was shorter by around a third, and the roof level 40 centimeters or 16 inches lower. We extended the length and added extra height to create enough space for the restaurant. 

Would you like to take a break? Then feel free to stop off here – the museum restaurant is open. We’ll meet up again in the room to the left of the entrance.