Die Drehkoite Girkhausen

Craft museum in Girkhausen: an original turning workshop shows how wooden spoons and bowls were turned in the Wittgenstein region.

Opening hoursAdmission €4

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About the museum

The Drehkoite has been documented since around 1531. The name means "turning pit", because the lathe was set deeper than the floor. After the Reformation, Girkhausen lost its income from pilgrimages. In summer the men worked in agriculture and as building craftsmen in the Sauerland, and during the long winter they made everyday objects from wood, above all spoons and bowls.

Around 1900 almost every house in Girkhausen had a lathe or a "Löffelstock" (spoon lathe). The first motor-driven lathe came to the village in 1922, and by 1956 the last old lathes had disappeared from the houses. A skilled craftsman made up to 25 spoons a day, and the whole family, children included, helped. Spoon-making continues in the village to this day, now partly with machines.

The exhibition includes a workshop around 100 years old with a line-shaft drive, which belonged to master turner Ludwig Florin; a treadle lathe with a flywheel; and a replica of an antique fiddle lathe (Fidelbank). The museum is run by the Verkehrs- und Heimatverein Girkhausen (tourism and local heritage association). Since November 2019 the Drehkoite has also been an official wedding venue of the town of Bad Berleburg.

Highlights

Original turning workshop (around 100 years old) with line-shaft drive
Treadle lathe with flywheel
Replica of an antique fiddle lathe
Craft demonstrations on the first Saturday of every month
Official wedding venue of the town of Bad Berleburg

Permanent exhibition

Drechslerhandwerk im Wittgensteiner Land – Historic turning workshop, treadle lathe and fiddle lathe replica show the development of woodturning from antiquity to the present day.