Mittelalterliches Kriminalmuseum

Om museet

The museum grew out of a small private collection that publisher and archivist Rudolf Hermann Albrecht displayed around 1900 as the "Rothenburger Folterkammer" (Rothenburg Torture Chamber) in the tower of the Burghotel, modeled on the then-famous Nuremberg torture chamber. Around 1920 the artist couple Ernst Paul Hinckeldey and Marta Hinckeldey-Wittke took over the collection and the building and developed them into a museum.

From the 1950s onward, their son Christoph Hinckeldey and his wife Hildegard greatly expanded the holdings, turning the torture chamber into a comprehensive museum of legal history in the German-speaking world. When the district of Rothenburg was dissolved in 1972, the family acquired the vacated district administration building on Burggasse: the former commandery of the Order of St. John, built between 1393 and 1410 and remodeled in Baroque style in 1718. After restoration, the museum moved there in 1977.

At the end of 1993 the founding family contributed the main building and the collection, and the town of Rothenburg the neighboring Johanniterscheune (Knights of St. John barn), to a public-law foundation that also supports research alongside running the museum. The barn was renovated by 1996 and has since been used for special exhibitions, conferences and the cafeteria. Legal historian Markus Hirte has directed the museum since 2013.

The tour follows the course of a criminal trial, from investigation through the gathering of evidence and torture to verdict and execution of the sentence. Themed sections cover shame punishments, executioners, witch hunts, police law, school punishments and animal trials. With around 50,000 objects, the museum is one of the best-known museums of legal history in Europe.

Højdepunkter

• Instruments of torture in the vaulted cellar of the commandery
• Masks of shame, pillories and other shame punishments
• Iron Maiden
• Executioners' swords and records of the executioners
• Witch hunts and superstition
• Animals in legal history

Permanente udstillinger

• Verfahren und Folter – The vaulted cellar deals with the opening and evidence stages of historical criminal proceedings, including torture as a means of extracting confessions.
• Hexen, Henker und Halunken – The section on the first floor is devoted to corporal and capital punishment, the office of executioner and the persecution of robbers and alleged witches.
• Tiere in der Rechtsgeschichte – Curious trials against animals, animal protection and animal punishments show the role animals played in the law of earlier centuries.

Grundlagt

1920

Ejer

Mittelalterliches Kriminalmuseum – Sammlung Zeugnisse historischen Rechtswesens (Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts)

Ledelse

Markus Hirte

Entrépriser & rabatter

All tickets include the special exhibition. Online tickets are valid only for the booked time slot. Discounts cannot be combined. Dogs on a leash are admitted free.

Tilgængelighed

Museet har ikke offentliggjort oplysninger om dette – spørg venligst museet direkte.

Børn og familie

Kun delvist egnet til børn

• Opgavehæfte, skattejagt eller audioguide for børn

Downloadable scavenger hunts for schoolchildren (permanent exhibition from 3rd grade, plus a children's and teen scavenger hunt for the special exhibition); age-appropriate tours for school classes.

Transport & parkering

The museum is in the old town and can only be reached on foot.

Service & spisesteder

• Café
• Museumsbutik

Cafeteria with about 40 indoor and outdoor seats and a museum shop in the Johanniterscheune (also an online shop).

Arrangementer & udlejning

• Lokaler til leje
• Firmaarrangementer

Op til 120 personer.

Conference area in the Johanniterscheune: a large conference room on the top floor (approx. 200 m², up to 120 people) and a small room in the basement (approx. 80 m², up to 35 people). The inner courtyard is occasionally rented out for events on request.

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