Schafhof

The Schafhof stands on a gentle rise above Freising in Upper Bavaria. It began in 1819–20 as a royal sheep barn for King Max I Joseph’s Merino flock, planned by agronomist Max Schönleutner to house five hundred animals. After the sheep were sold in 1888 the building served as a mixed cattle and sheep farm until the 1960s. In the 1990s the district of Upper Bavaria restored the property and opened a museum of Bavarian farming from 1800. When interest faded the site closed in 2002, but two years later it reopened as the European Artists’ House of Upper Bavaria. The ensemble is protected as a monument. Visitors walk past the restored classical head-buildings with their gabled threshing-floor entrances. Inside, the central barn now hosts exhibitions, readings and concerts. The surrounding meadows and distant views over Freising’s onion-domed skyline complete the visit.