Ravensburg - Haus zum Esel Mural - A Donkey with a Patrician Past

The striking Haus zum Esel mural overlooks a bicycle-filled street in Ravensburg’s historic centre, recalling the city’s influential medieval patrician society.

The Haus zum Esel mural in Ravensburg’s historic centre is far more than a humorous piece of street art. Painted on the building at Marktstraße 1 by artist Philip Walch, also known as Stone.Graffiti, the large image of a donkey dressed in a suit and striped tie refers to the historic Ravensburg patrician society known as “Zum Esel”. The association brought together some of the city’s wealthiest and most influential merchant families, whose prosperity was based on long-distance trade during the late Middle Ages. Its members played an important role in the government of the imperial city and even provided Ravensburg’s mayors. The society’s first surviving statutes date from 1397, and its historic meeting place stood here close to the town hall. The mural was created in 2021 as part of a public-art initiative in the city centre. In this photograph, rows of parked bicycles, narrow old-town buildings and the towering donkey mural combine contemporary Ravensburg street life with a vivid reminder of the city’s medieval mercantile history.