Deutsches Knopfmuseum

About the museum

In the 20th century, Bärnau was a center of German button making. In 1895 the button maker Johann Müller founded the first mother-of-pearl button factory here; after the Second World War, mainly expellees from the Sudetenland built up new businesses, and in 1957 there were 32 firms. A technical school for the button industry and the international button fair IKNOFA made the town known worldwide.

A first small button museum arose in 1975 from the private collection of Rudolf Jäpel. The town of Bärnau took over the collection, and the former technical school director Marcel Hermann reorganized it together with his wife from 1982. In March 1983 the Deutsches Knopfmuseum opened in the building of the former button school; within a few years the holdings grew to millions of buttons.

Because the building no longer met requirements, the town had the listed former communal brewhouse, which at one point was slated for demolition, renovated from 1995 to 1998. Since then the museum has shown buttons made from 26 materials, machines and tools, and the individual steps of the elaborate mother-of-pearl button making process there. In the Galerie Punktum, changing art exhibitions with links to Bavaria and the Czech Republic round out the program.

Highlights

• Buttons from four centuries and 26 materials
• The largest and the smallest mother-of-pearl button in the world
• A pair of buttons on clothing made of more than 18,500 buttons
• Machines and tools of mother-of-pearl button making
• Listed former communal brewhouse

Permanent exhibitions

• Die Knopfausstellung – Display cases with buttons of all kinds and materials from four centuries, along with machines and devices, show how laboriously buttons used to be made in many steps.

Founded

1975

Operated by

Stadt Bärnau

Director

Markéta Monsportová

Admission & discounts

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• 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

Accessible entrance; the public areas are reachable without steps or thresholds. Seating available.

Kids & families

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

Getting there & parking

By car from Hof via the B15 and Tirschenreuth, from the A9 (exit Bayreuth) via the B22, Erbendorf, and Tirschenreuth, or via the A93 through Neustadt an der Waldnaab and Plößberg.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Museum shop with a large selection of buttons made of many materials, especially mother-of-pearl, as well as jewelry and gift ideas around the button.

Events & venue rental

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

Plan your visit