Many towns and villages in southern Germany suffered the ravages of the Thirty Years' War and its financial repercussions until around 1700. In later years, both religious and secular authorities sought to rebuild what had been destroyed. To this end, these authorities, in cooperation with their architects, took the opportunity to construct new buildings in the contemporary style. Since then, Baroque styles of architecture have dominated the urban and municipal landscape throughout Germany, from the Rhine to the River Main and the Alps.The Teutonic Knights are among the most important patrons of baroque architecture in southern Germany. For three generations and 75 years, members of the Keller family have served the Musketeers successfully as master craftsmen, designers and builders.
Their work encompassed a wide range of projects: in addition to churches, residences, and town halls, their designs also included numerous parish houses, apartment buildings, and administrative buildings. Distinctive models of architecture designed by Franz and Johann Michael Keller the Younger have been preserved to this day in the administrative districtsof the state of Baden-Württemberg in Tübingen and Stuttgart, as well as in the Bavarian administrative regions of Central Franconia, Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate.
