Station: [8] Home for Poor Maidservants / Gothic Stepped Gable

The house before you actually looks nothing like a home for poor maidservants. The brick façade, the large crossbar windows and the lavish brick stepped gable could hardly be described as poor. In this house dating from the second half of the 16th Century and donated by a wealthy canon, lived the single female employees of the monastery. Be it as a waitress, who served the meals, or a laundry maid who took care of the washing, here they could live out their well-earned twilight years. You are now in the heart of the old town and directly opposite, on the other side of the street, you can see another architectural gem. It dates back to the 15th Century. Interesting features of this house are the stepped gable and the material used. The tuff stone façade was built of stone salvaged from the ruins of Colonia Ulpia Traiana, the old Roman town outside the gates of Xanten. This city founded by Emperor Trajan has been dismantled and demolished over the centuries to be re-used as building material. Meanwhile, there are more stones from Trajan's city here in today's Xanten than on its original site in the Archaeological Park.