1. Allgäu-Schwäbisches Dorfschulmuseum Erkheim-Daxberg

About the museum

In Daxberg, a district of Erkheim in the Unterallgäu, a small schoolhouse is documented as early as 1833; the current building dates from 1885/86. Until it was closed in 1965, children of several grades learned together in a single classroom here, and the upper grades eventually went to Erkheim.

In September 1988, the Heimatpflege Markt Erkheim association, founded in 1985, opened the first Allgäu-Swabian Village School Museum in the former schoolhouse. The aim is not to romanticize the "good old days": alongside the sense of community in the tiny school, the museum also shows harsh punishments, spartan furnishings and the modest circumstances of village teachers.

The classroom and teaching aids room are furnished as they looked in the 1948/49 school year, with a tiled stove, a raised teacher's desk, two-seater benches, counting frames and a harmonium. In the attic are several thousand schoolbooks, including a reader from 1845 and an arithmetic book from 1748, along with writing implements, report cards, friendship albums, school wall charts, maps and needlework. School classes can experience lessons as they used to be; teacher-training students from the University of Ulm have developed additional digital offerings such as a virtual tour.

Highlights

• Classroom furnished in its original state of the 1948/49 school year
• Teaching aids room with taxidermy specimens and school wall charts
• Several thousand schoolbooks, the oldest reader from 1845
• Lessons as they used to be, with slate pencil and slate tablet, for school classes
• Report cards, friendship albums and school notebooks from two centuries

Permanent exhibitions

• Klassenzimmer und Lehrmittelraum – The classroom of the one-room village school with tiled stove, teacher's desk and two-seater benches, plus the teaching aids room in its 1948/49 condition.
• Sammlung im Dachgeschoss – Schoolbooks from several eras, writing implements, slate pencil boxes, report cards, dunce's bench, projectors and needlework from lessons.

Founded

1988

Operated by

Heimatpflege Markt Erkheim e.V.

Director

Sieglinde Singer

Admission & discounts

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Hands-on stations

Designed as a hands-on museum: children write on the slate with a slate pencil in German script and learn about school punishments of the past. Holiday program and event days with "School as It Used to Be," ghost hour and old games; also a search game, riddle quiz and e-book.

Getting there & parking

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Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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Plan your visit