Museen im Alten Schloss

About the museum

The Museums in the Old Castle trace back to the Historical Society founded in 1906, the predecessor of today's Neustadt an der Aisch History and Local Heritage Society. It collected tools, furniture, textiles, documents and paintings from the town and its surroundings. After exhibitions in changing locations, the local history museum found a permanent home in the Old Castle, the former secondary residence of the Franconian Hohenzollerns, in 1960.

Around the turn of the millennium, visitor numbers fell and the building also needed renovation. On the advice of the State Office for Non-State Museums in Bavaria, the society gave up on reinstalling the general local history collection and instead created three specialist museums. The Aischgrund Carp Museum celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2018; a walk-in visible storage depot was added in 2020.

In ten rooms, the Carp Museum tells of the more than 1,250-year-old pond farming in the Aischgrund, the work of pond farmers, the pond as a habitat and Franconian carp cuisine; a large aquarium shows live fish and crayfish. The Margraves Museum is devoted to the rise of the Hohenzollerns and their influence on the town, including a section on the Siebener, the sworn boundary officials. The KinderSpielWelten in the gatehouse show historic dollhouses, toy kitchens and toy shops. The museums are run by the volunteer-based History and Local Heritage Society.

Highlights

• Large aquarium with carp, tench and noble crayfish
• Interactive diorama on the pond habitat
• Franconian carp cuisine from "Halber Gebackener" (half-portion of fried carp) to carp boiled "blau"
• Siebener section on the sworn boundary officials in the Margraves Museum
• Dollhouses and model railway in the KinderSpielWelten
• Walk-in visible storage depot with participatory inventorying

Permanent exhibitions

• Aischgründer Karpfenmuseum – Ten rooms on the history and practice of pond farming in the Aischgrund, on the pond ecosystem and on carp cuisine, with a large show aquarium.
• Markgrafenmuseum – The Franconian Hohenzollerns from burgraves to royal house and their traces in Neustadt, complemented by a section on the Siebener system.
• KinderSpielWelten – Restored dollhouses, toy kitchens, toy shops and a model railway from the 19th and 20th centuries in the castle's gatehouse.

Operated by

Geschichts- und Heimatverein Neustadt a.d. Aisch e.V.

Director

Jochen Ringer

Admission & discounts

One ticket is valid for all three museums and the visible storage depot.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: not available
• Elevator: not available
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The exhibitions are on the upper floors and can only be reached by stairs. On request, a filmed tour with commentary is shown on the ground floor; the team is happy to help.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations
• Stroller-friendly: not available

Curriculum-based programs for primary school classes and children's groups, for example on the carp pond and pond inhabitants, plus story hours as well as children's music and children's art in the castle. Model railway at the push of a button and an interactive pond diorama; in the visible storage depot, visitors can inventory objects themselves.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

Museum café and museum shop.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit