Burgmuseum Plau am See

About the museum

Of Plau Castle, built around 1448/49 on the western shore of Lake Plau, only the massive castle tower remains after the destruction of the Thirty Years' War and the subsequent dismantling of the fortress. It stood unused for a long time until, from 2000, the “Museumsfreunde Plau am See” restored it and prepared it for visitors; on view are a dungeon about eleven metres deep with display panels on the castle's history, finds from the town's history and a tower clock from 1581.

The neighbouring museum on Burgplatz is run exclusively by volunteers of the Plau local history association; after conversion and extension it reopened in 2013. Its sections are devoted to the crafts and technology of the small town in the 19th and 20th centuries: printing and typesetting, a shoemaker's workshop with a working shoe-nail machine, weaving, dental technology, the history of bicycles and aviation, photography, fishing, shipping, the railway and local birdlife.

In 2014 the exhibition on the Plau sculptor and honorary citizen Wilhelm Wandschneider (1866–1942), with original sculptures, plaster models and documents, moved from the parsonage into the castle museum. Since February 2026 the museum has shown, on permanent loan, the only surviving high-pressure steam engine by the physician and inventor Ernst Alban. It ran from 1840 to 1900 in the Plau cloth factory and had previously been exhibited at the Deutsches Museum in Munich until 2023.

Highlights

• High-pressure steam engine by Ernst Alban (1840), the only surviving example
• Medieval castle tower with dungeon and tower clock from 1581
• Section on the sculptor Wilhelm Wandschneider
• Working printing presses and shoe-nail machine
• Exhibitions on fishing, shipping, bicycles and aviation in Plau

Permanent exhibitions

• Ernst Alban und die Hochdruckdampfmaschine – The steam engine from the Plau cloth factory, built in 1840 and weighing over eleven tonnes, complemented by an exhibition on the life of the physician and mechanical engineer Ernst Alban.
• Prof. Wilhelm Wandschneider – Around 30 original sculptures, plaster models and reliefs as well as paintings, tools and photographs on the life of the Plau sculptor.
• Burgturm – Medieval tower with dungeon, exhibition on the town's history and a historic tower clock.

Operated by

Plauer Heimatverein e.V.

Admission & discounts

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• 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 museum is accessible; the medieval castle tower is not.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide

The illuminated display panels in the dungeon of the castle tower summarise the castle's history in child-friendly language along the bottom edge.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

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