Foundation headquarters

The Ledenhof

Since April 2002, the Ledenhof in the City of Peace Culture Osnabrück has been the seat of the German Foundation for Peace Research. The historic building was generously made available to the foundation for use by the City of Osnabrück. In addition to office space, it also houses rooms that can be used for events, conferences, and exhibitions. The Literature Office of Western Lower Saxony is also located in the attic.

The Ledenhof is one of the city highlights of Osnabrück. It occupies a prominent location opposite the baroque palace and in the immediate vicinity of St. Catherine’s Church. Within the cityscape, it stands out particularly because of its colorful decoration.

After the secular building from the 14th to 16th century had been threatened in its existence by age and war damage, it was thoroughly restored from 1967 to 1976 under the leadership of the city as owner, in cooperation with the Lehmann Foundation for Environmental and Monument Preservation. For more than 20 years, the premises on the ground floor and basement served as the location of the city’s music library.

The origins of the Ledenhof stone structure date back to the 14th century, when the merchant family Leden—soon to rise to become an influential patrician family and to hold high municipal offices—moved from the countryside into the city and built an estate of then unknown size within the city walls.
Its location at the southern end of the former old town shows that its founders were planning a spacious complex for their trading branch right from the start. To this day, the tall wall conveys something of the former enclosed nature of the estate, of which only the three most important buildings remain: the seven-story storehouse built in rubble stone masonry (today plastered for protection against environmental influences) with its typical gabled roof, the newly plastered, colorfully designed former residential building (palas) with its two decorative gables, and the stair tower from the late 16th century.

The Stone Structure

The oldest tower-like building, the storehouse, served as a fireproof and heat-insulated warehouse for trade goods. Originally three stories high, it was raised in the 15th century to a seven-story stone structure through elaborate modifications.

The Palas

In corner contact with the stone structure stands the two-story palas, appropriate to the rank and prestige of the Leden family, built on the basic structures of the earlier residential house with vaulted cellar that existed until the 15th century. In the late 16th century, the stair tower with its technically interesting wooden spiral staircase was added.

The ground floor of the residential building included the hall (Deele) accessible from the inner courtyard as well as the chamber section, which today serve as business and office space for the foundation.
On the upper floor – today’s meeting and conference rooms – the full representational ambition of the Leden family is revealed, confirmed by the construction of the palas, which went far beyond the usual housing standards of Osnabrück’s citizens.
Here are the former banquet rooms (Banquet/Renaissance Hall and Hall Chamber), where the patrician life of the family unfolded at special times and occasions. The beams and planks of the rooms are adorned with early Renaissance motifs.

Around the same time as the interior paintings, in the first third of the 16th century, the decorative paintings on the exterior of the palas must also have been created, which were reproduced as faithfully as possible during the restoration.

A detailed account of the history of the Ledenhof stone structure and the Leden family can be found in:

Roswitha Poppe: Der Ledenhof in Osnabrück. H. Th. Wenner, Osnabrück 1978.

The von Leden Family

The Leden family originally came from the Osnabrück region, where the village of Leden (near Tecklenburg) still exists today. In the 14th century, the Ledens settled in Osnabrück and gradually gained influence. After the wine merchant Johann Leden had already succeeded in entering long-distance trade around 1350, the true founder of the family’s wealth must be considered Heinrich Leden, who worked as a goldsmith and banker. The fact that the Ledenhof was also called the “Old Mint” suggests that the family may also have gained influence through minting coins for the sovereign. In 1380, Heinrich Leden held the honorable office of lay judge. His son was already regarded as a ministerialis and, as a follower of the bishop, acquired episcopal fiefs.