Maison des Tetes (House of Heads), Colmar

Anton Burger was a shopkeeper in the city of Colmar. He was born in 1579. He inherited his father's house and had it demolished in 1609. He built his own house on the property, which became the famous "House of the Heads."

The Maison des Tetes (House of Heads), designed by architect Albert Schmidt, features the German Renaissance style. The facade of the building shows two square floors with strips and three levels on the high gable. An oriel covers two stories in the center. It has an openwork stone railing adorned with bifurcated figures. The building gets its name from the 106 sculpted heads on the oriel and mullions of the windows.

Posing on the gable is the pewter statue of an Alsation cooper holding a wine bottle in his left hand and a stein in his right. Created by painter and sculptor Auguste Bartholdi in 1902, the statue marks the setting up of the Colmar Wine Exchange. Anton Burger lived in his house until he fled the Catholic Counter-Reformation. He settled in Basel in 1698, and he died there.

Burger's heirs sold the house in 1698. The building passed through the hands of several owners and was acquired by the Wine Exchange. The house became a restaurant and social watering hole since 1898.

Today the historical building houses a 5-star hotel and a Michelin-starred gourmet restaurant.