Schleswig-Holstein
Art, History & Archaeology Sites & Museums

South of Albersdorf is a Stone Age open-air museum, in an area that is rich in prehistoric megalithic sites. In an area covering 40 hectares visitors can explore a Stone Age hunters’ camp and as well as a village belonging to the region’s earliest farmers. The onsite museum explores over 100,000 years of human history in Schleswig-Holstein. A must is the reconstructed burial mound, through which visitors can walk and learn about the burial practices of prehistoric people.

A two-hundred year old long house, that was until 1929 a functioning agricultural residence, is the setting for a local history museum with an impressive exhibition of ethnographic artefacts. The collection has its origins when in 1864 Friedrich August Feddersen, a local pastor, began collecting objects of local Frisian life and culture. Today these objects are displayed in various living spaces and stables of the 23-metre longhouse to give an idea of Frisian daily life, from an extensive set of kitchen appliances to the tools that were used in roofing.

Within the semi-circular 10th century rampart, and not far from the Wikinger Museum Haithabu, is a reconstructed Viking village. The reconstructions, including its location, is based on the results of archaeological excavations of the Viking commercial port. Visitors are free to wonder around the various buildings. Regular Viking-themed events are held at the site, at which time period foods and crafts are on sale. An entry ticket to the museum includes entry to the reconstructed village.

What was once the town’s last wheelwright’s workshop has been turned into a popular North Frisian ethnographic museum. Besides the wheelwright’s workshop, the museum includes a shoemaker’s workshop and a number of artefacts and machines relating to the history of agriculture in the area. Displays also include objects relating to aspects of daily life, from schooling to laundry, from the kitchen and household furnishings. This range of artefacts is complimented by an extensive collection of historic photographs.

In a small park on the edge of the North Frisian town of Niebüll, features used to control the flood waters from the North Sea have been reconstructed. These include drainage channels, a warft and a hallig. There are also four dyke profiles, showing the changes in dyke construction from the 1600 to the present. The various features are the kind that have been used for centuries to reclaim land from the sea, and to protect land from flooding. A perfect place to spend an hour to learn more about the North Frisian landscape.

Situated in the historic Albersdorfer Bahnhofshotel, the Museum für Archäologie und Ökologie Dithmarschen is the only archaeology museum along the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein. The museum has a permanent exhibition that traces the history of human in the area during the Stone Age. In particular, human’s interactions with the environment here. A highlight of the museum is a collection of amber stones, with trapped insects. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions about prehistory and ecology.

Seebüll on the North Sea coast is the historic house of the well known, and controversial artist Emil Nolde. Begin your visit with a film about the life of the artist, that does not shy away from his association with the National Socialists and the Third Reich. Explore his house, which contains many of his paintings. Tour his beautifully maintained garden, in which he and his wife were laid to rest. From the museum hiking trails allow you to see more of the countryside he painted. Whatever you think of his art and his political associations during WWII, this is a fascinating experience.

Not far from the site of the site of the Oldenburg Slavic Castle is the Oldenburg Wall Museum. Here visitors can explore around 20 reconstructed buildings, among them domestic dwellings and a pre-Christian religious building. The reconstructions are based on archaeological finds in the area. Exhibitions present the early medieval history of Oldenburg as a centre of trade, politics and religion in Ostholstein 1,000 years ago. During the summer season, costumed re-enactors are on hand to show visitors what life was like for the Slavic people of these times.

Founded in 1899, the Ostenfelder Bauernhaus is Germany’s oldest open-air museum. The house, built sometime before 1600 in Lower Saxony, was rescued from being taken to Denmark by a local teacher, and re-constructed in his home town of Husum in 1899. The museum gives visitors an idea of what everyday farming life and work was like in former times. The house is from a time when animals and people shared the same building. The furniture is typical of farmhouses in the 18th and 19th centuries, as are the household items and farm tools.

Since 1985 what was Niebüll’s 1920s, two-story town hall, on the town square, has been an art gallery. Named after the sculptor, painter and graphic artist Richard Haizmann, who lived in the town from 1934 until his death in 1963, the museum celebrates the artist with a permanent exhibition of his work. Each year the art gallery hosts a number of temporary exhibitions, promoting the work of North German and Scandinavian artists, as well as contemporary artists from other areas of Germany and Europe.