After an absence of almost two years, “Weathercock House” in Kitano Ijinkan-gai is now closed! Kazamidori-no-Yakata” in Kitano Ijinkan-gai reopens to the public after a long closure

Weathercock House (Chuo Ward, Kobe), which had been closed for a long period of time due to seismic retrofitting, reopened to the public on July 18.

The building has a special atmosphere within the “Kitano Ijinkan-gai,” a symbol of Kobe, with its brick exterior walls and weathercock spire, the only one of its kind in the Ijinkan-gai.

The building was built around 1909 by Gottfried Thomas, a German trader who once lived in Kobe, as his own residence, and was designated as a National Important Cultural Property in 1978.

The museum had been closed for a long period of time for seismic retrofitting since the summer of 2023, but has now reopened to the public for the first time in almost two years. Despite the heat at the time of our visit, many tourists were enjoying taking pictures of the historic building.

A volunteer staff member said, “I have seen many visitors leave the museum disappointed when they found out that they could not enter, so I am glad to see the reopening of the museum.

According to the trivia the volunteer staff member shared with us during our interview, many of the bricks that are a major feature of the building were torn off in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake 30 years ago.

However, some of the bricks were turned inside out when the building was reconstructed, and this beautiful building was preserved with its history intact. I had no idea that there was such an episode.

It made me nostalgic to have covered the museum two years ago, when it was less than 100 days away from its long-term closure. Now that one of the facilities that can be visited has been restored, I would like to visit the Ijinkan-gu.

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