In Bavaria, stories like these are traditionally introduced with the sentence: "Get away, the oide Glump." In other words, with the request that the property in question should be entrusted to a demolition excavator.

In the present case, the Glump is in the middle of the market town of Triftern in Rottal in Lower Bavaria - the Alte Post inn with bowling alley and listed barn.

The house dates from 1795 and has two upper floors with guest rooms.

Later, a doctor's office moved to the first floor, the innkeepers lived on the second floor long after there were no more inns.

In the early 2000s, the stately building stood empty for a number of years.

The house continued to deteriorate.

Until the sculptor Bernd Stöcker paid seventy-four thousand euros for it eight years ago.

Hannes Hintermeier

Feuilleton correspondent for Bavaria and Austria.

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If Stöcker lived in Oberammergau, he would be allowed to play in the Passion.

After twenty-five years in Triftern, he is still not an indigenous person, but he is also no longer a new citizen.

Stöcker, a giant with claws, as the hands are called here if they are bigger, was born in Bremen and is an academically trained sculptor with famous teachers, Rückriem and Hrdlicka.

For almost forty years he has been successfully making his way through the free artist wild, on August 17 he will be seventy.

Stöcker's sculptures can be found in Hamburg, Munich, Mannheim, Stuttgart and other German cities.

Most recently, he designed a Nepomuk figure for the Isar Bridge near Plattling.

His order situation is good, he says.

A northern light mixes with in Lower Bavaria

In 1997 Stöcker moved to Triftern with his wife, the sculptor Ingrid Baumgärtner, and their three children.

Munich and the surrounding area had simply become too expensive.

The family has never regretted the move.

And when someone has such a reputation, they are treated with respect in the country, too.

Stöcker took advantage of this and got involved in the local scene.

From the very beginning, he wanted to turn the Alte Post into a cultural center – and a place where he could show his sculptures after death.

At first the goodwill in politics was great, then it was spread that Stöcker wanted to set up a private monument with the funding of 220,000 euros promised by the community.

It was clear that Stöcker, should he receive funds from the Bavarian funding initiative "Inside instead of Outside",

The rumor that he might be planning to set up an old people's home himself had an effect: it sparked a debate about envy.

Doorbell cleaner and Vereinsmeier were successful, Stöcker lost a referendum.

Even the Polish priest was against him.

The ÖDP mayor Edith Lirsch, a supporter of the project, was stunned.

Make the place more visible again

It takes a lot of imagination to imagine this man as a project developer of a retirement home.

It is much more likely that he believes that he wants to make the market community, which was severely damaged by a flood in 2016, more visible with a mixed cultural use and a café run by volunteers.

When Stöcker moved to Triftern, there were thirteen inns, today there are two and a half.

But the artist is not one to give up easily.

With the help of new sponsors, including the district of Rottal-Inn and the preservation of monuments, the restoration of the barn has progressed well.