Villa Musculus, Heritage monument in Eisenach, Germany.
Villa Musculus is a three-storey Neo-Renaissance house built 1897–1899 to plans by Eisenach architect Hermann Hahn at Schloßberg 10. Grey ashlar masonry forms the walls, while window and door surrounds, cornices and pilasters are cut from red sandstone. Two gables, a corner tower, bay windows and several loggias break up the volume, and the house stands on a large, near-natural plot at the forest edge.
Built 1897–1899 to plans by Eisenach architect Hermann Hahn in Neo-Renaissance style, the villa's first owner was Elise Musculus, who lived there until 1920. From 1920 the state rabbi Josef Wiesen ran a home for children with mental disabilities; during the Nazi era he sheltered persecuted Jews and held services after the Eisenach synagogue was destroyed. Deported to Theresienstadt on 19 September 1942, he died there on 15 November 1942. In 2000 the building was gutted and converted into eight condominiums.
The house is named after its first owner, Elise Musculus, who lived there until 1920. From 1920 Josef Wiesen, state rabbi of the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, ran a home there for children with mental disabilities and, after the Eisenach synagogue was destroyed, held services in the building. Since 2011 Stolpersteine in the pavement in front commemorate him, his grandson Kurt Peter and other residents.
Villa Musculus stands at Schloßberg 10 in Eisenach's Südviertel, on a large plot directly at the forest edge within the Predigerberg monument ensemble. The building was converted in 2000 into eight owner-occupied flats after complete gutting, so it is a private residence and not open for tours. Three Stolpersteine lie in the pavement in front of the property, with six more added in 2025.
Three Stolpersteine were set into the pavement in front of the property on 21 June 2011, commemorating Josef Wiesen, his daughter-in-law Irma and his grandson Kurt Peter, who was not yet ten years old and was the youngest child deported from Eisenach. Six more stones followed in 2025 for residents of Josef Wiesen's home.
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