Now look at this! Isn't it a beautiful house?! It could make you really envious, yes, even a real jealous person, which is called in German “Neidhammel”! Well, it's not for nothing that the name of this special house is nothing but the " Neidhammel House "!
The 16th century was a real heyday for Hornburg. And this "Neidhammel House" with its richly carved Renaissance façade is nothing other than the architectural epitome of this heyday. It dates back to 1563 and was built by Valentin Mitgau, the city treasurer at the time and obviously a very wealthy gentleman. What makes this house so special are of course the many decorative elements of the richly carved façade. As soon as you move from the overall impression to the details, your gaze is initially drawn to the first upper floor. At the bottom, the first thing you see is the long wooden beam with its carved inscription. In keeping with the style of the time, it is decorated with a biblical saying, which refers to the first chapter of the book of Jesus Sirach: "The fear of God is the wisdom that makes you rich and brings with it all good things. It fills the house with its gift and all the rooms with its treasure." It is an example for something that we can find in many decorative elements of such a facade.
They do not only serve the aesthetic sense, but also say something about the owner´s hopes for the future, living in this house. The quoted biblical saying, for example, reflects the hope of a comfortable life. Other houses in Hornburg are decorated, for example, with a stork, which symbolises family planning. Others show devil masks that are supposed to ward off evil. The so-called ‘envious head’ on the "Neidhammel House" is to be understood in a similar context. It can be seen at the very left edge of the inscripted beam, sticking out its tongue. It has become the eponym of this house. The tip of the tongue has broken off; perhaps a snake's head was once visible there, which would have marked envy as something demonic. A little to the right and above, the motif is repeated in the rosette frieze. Obviously, the protection against envy was a central concern of the builder! Other symbols in the rosettes are the tree of life, which refers to paradise, or the lily, a symbol related to the veneration of the Virgin Mary. The upright beams between the windows mainly feature tendril motifs that refer to hops, which formed the basis for prosperity at the time. One of the beams above the current entrance door, to the left of the gutter, has another special feature. It bears the heraldic icons of the builder Valentin Mitgau: the tree of life and a heart pierced by Cupid's arrow.
It is actually a miracle that the "Neidhammel House" can be admired in Hornburg today. Because in the 1970s it burned down. But fortunately, the fire department managed to save at least the facade. This meant that the house could be rebuilt in 1996 with the help of public subsidies, but above all thanks to the great private commitment of many Hornburg residents.