The Deutschherrenhaus or Deutschordenshaus in Koblenz was the first settlement of the Teutonic Order Knights in Rhineland. The divine order of knights played a substantial role in the East German colonisation. Since 1929 it has been a clerical order and is, after the Maltese Order and the templars, the third largest order of knights which was formed at the time of the crusades. The chosen motto of the order is “help, defend and heal“.
The Archbishop Theoderich von Wied summoned the Knights of the Teutonic Order to Koblenz in 1216 and presented them from the St. Castor’s Foundation a piece of land together with the St. Nikolaus hospital that was located directly at the point where the Moselle flows into the Rhine.
Due to the destruction in 1944, Deutschherrenhaus, the former administrative building of the Teutonic Order is the only building among the many that has remained till nowadays. Since 1992 it has been the house for the Ludwig Museum, devoted primarily to the French art.
References:The Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.
Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.