Theologian, cardinal, papal legate and scholar.
Nikolaus von Kues, actually Nikolaus Cryfftz, born in 1401 in Kues on the Moselle as the son of an up-and-coming, wealthy merchant and bourgeois family, was one of the great European thinkers of the 15th century. He made his mark above all as a church politician, a theorist of the Council, a committed campaigner for the unity and renewal of the church, a cardinal, bishop and sovereign of Brixen as well as papal legate and vicar general in the Vatican.
as an urbane diplomat, he traveled to large parts of Europe and negotiated with secular and ecclesiastical rulers. His profound education and wide-ranging interests earned him the reputation of a polymath who was also highly regarded in early Renaissance Italy. Nicholas is remembered as a generous benefactor above all in his birthplace, where he founded the St. Nicholas Hospital/Cusanus Foundation in 1458.
St. Nicholas Hospital with its famous library
In 1458, Nicholas Cusanus founded the St. Nicholas Hospital/Cusanus Foundation in his birthplace of Kues as a home for the poor and the elderly. The hospital, built on the model of a late Gothic monastery complex, still exists today. Initially, 33 poor and old men were to find a permanent home here.
House where Cusanus was born
In the district of Kues, at the end of the town towards Lieser, stands the house where Nikolaus Cusanus was born. On the upper floor of the house, which is used as a museum and event space, visitors will find a permanent exhibition about the great thinker.
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At his request, Nicholas Cusanus' heart was buried in the chapel of St. Nicholas Hospital in Kues, which he founded.
