Bezirksmuseum Buchen

About the museum

The impetus came from a folk art exhibition in Karlsruhe in 1910: head teacher Karl Trunzer collected a whole railway wagon full of objects in the Buchen administrative district for it. After their return, in February 1911 around 170 citizens founded the Bezirksmuseum association, which still runs the museum on a voluntary basis today. In 1915 the first rooms opened on the ground floor of the Steinerner Bau, and in 1929 the upper floor was added after a conversion.

Over the decades the museum grew into the ensemble of the former Electorate of Mainz Amtskellerei (tithe administration) on the edge of the old town. In 1978 the Zehntscheune (tithe barn) was converted, in 1987 the renovated Trunzerhaus was occupied; there in 1992, in the former living quarters of the Kraus family, the memorial to the composer Joseph Martin Kraus opened with the Vleugels music collection. Since 2005 the association has also used the Belz’sches Haus for administration and workshops.

Under the guiding theme “Museum on the Border”, the exhibition combines earth history and cultural history at the dividing line between the Odenwald, with its Buntsandstein (red sandstone), and the Bauland, with its Muschelkalk (shell limestone). In 2008 the German Limes Commission named the museum a focal museum for the dead-straight course of the Limes; since 2013 it has also documented the dialects of the region. Also on display are folk art, furniture, crafts, ceramics and works by artists with a connection to Buchen.

Highlights

• Ensemble of the Electorate of Mainz Amtskellerei with Steinerner Bau, Trunzerhaus and Zehntscheune
• Memorial to the composer Joseph Martin Kraus with the Vleugels music collection
• Focus on Roman land surveying and the straight-line Limes
• Earth history at the boundary of Buntsandstein and Muschelkalk
• Works of the Hollerbach artists’ colony and the painter Wilhelm Emelé

Permanent exhibitions

• Joseph-Martin-Kraus-Gedenkstätte und Musikaliensammlung Vleugels – On the upper floor of the Trunzerhaus, the former living quarters of the Kraus family, the composer who grew up in Buchen and later became a Swedish court Kapellmeister is commemorated.
• Die Römer – Römische Ingenieurskunst am Limes – This section explains how Roman surveyors laid out the Limes between Walldürn and Welzheim dead straight over many kilometres.
• Odenwald-Bauland – Rocks, fossils and early traces of settlement show how the boundary between Buntsandstein and Muschelkalk shaped the landscape and culture of the region.

Founded

1911

Operated by

Verein Bezirksmuseum e.V. Buchen

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Admission free. Members of the Bezirksmuseum association also receive free admission to events or discounts.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

For kindergartens and school classes there are hands-on programmes accompanying the exhibitions; individual children’s activities are offered via the tourist office.

Getting there & parking

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Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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