Neue Waag, Heritage monument at Haidplatz 1, Regensburg, Germany

The Neue Waag is a medieval patrician house-fortress with a tower occupying the whole eastern side of Haidplatz, from Neue Waag-Gasse to Vor der Grieb. Its oldest north wing was built around 1300; the four-wing complex with hipped roof was rebuilt around 1440 and between 1572 and 1587. The stone wings enclose an inner courtyard with two-storey Renaissance arcades on Tuscan columns, dated 1573 above a window lintel.

The northern core with its tower was built around 1300 by the Regensburg patrician family Gumprecht. In 1441 the city bought the whole complex to house the municipal weigh-house, which gave the building its name. From 1572 to 1587 it was rebuilt, and in 1541 it hosted the Regensburg Religious Colloquy between Johannes Eck and Philipp Melanchthon. Since the postwar restoration it has served as a court building.

The name Neue Waag comes from the municipal weigh house set up here after the city bought the building in 1441. A Herrentrinkstube was also installed, where members of the city council relaxed after sessions; receptions, festivities and weddings of patrician families took place here. In 1541 the rooms hosted the Regensburg Religious Colloquy between Johannes Eck and Philipp Melanchthon.

The building spans the whole eastern side of Haidplatz, from Neue Waag-Gasse to Vor der Grieb, and now houses the Regensburg Administrative Court. The inner courtyard with its two-storey Renaissance arcades is the part to look for; the St. Christophorus chapel in the tower's ground floor is not a public sight.

In the tower's ground floor survives the two-bay St. Christophorus chapel with its Gothic rib vault, and there too sits the stone Stadtmäuschen. A window lintel in the courtyard arcades carries the year 1573. From 1784 to 1875 the classicist Napoleonsaal, built in 1782, housed the city's combined library holdings of many thousands of volumes.