LWL-Museum für Erdgeschichte

About the museum

The museum's roots go back to the early 20th century, when the Bünde teacher Friedrich Langewiesche began recovering fossils at the Doberg. His finds – including the skeleton of a prehistoric sea cow – formed the foundation of the geological department of the Kreisheimatmuseum (district local history museum), founded in 1937, which was housed together with the Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum in the Striedieckscher Hof.

Under museum director Eberhard Pannkoke, the idea of a separate geological building arose. With the support of a friends' association, the district of Herford, and the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, a new building was constructed on Bünde's Museumsinsel (museum island); the revised permanent exhibition followed in 2003. Due to structural defects, the building was closed from 2009 for renovation and reopened at the end of 2011.

In September 2025 the LWL took over the museum as a branch of its natural history museum in Münster; since July 2026 it has been called the LWL-Museum für Erdgeschichte. The focus is the Doberg, a site recognized as a National Geotope since 2019, whose rock layers document the Oligocene with unusual completeness. The exhibition in the basement shows around 1,000 mostly regional fossils and rocks. Admission includes the neighboring municipal Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum, which presents the culture of tobacco and the history of Bünde's cigar industry.

Highlights

• Fossil sea cow from the Oligocene, about 30 million years old
• Skulls and jaw remains of prehistoric toothed whales from the Doberg
• Around 1,000 fossils and rocks across 550 m² in the basement
• Hands-on stations and objects to touch
• Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum in the half-timbered farmstead of 1828 (included in the ticket)

Permanent exhibitions

• Expedition Doberg – Eine subtropische Vergangenheit – Geological and paleontological show in the basement: fossils of sharks, sea cows, toothed whales, and seabed dwellers show that about 30 million years ago Bünde lay on a warm shallow sea; plus hands-on stations.
• Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum – Municipal exhibition in the Striedieckscher Hof with over 2,000 exhibits and media stations on the cultural history of tobacco, Bünde's cigar industry, and the consequences of smoking.

Operated by

Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), Außenstelle des LWL-Museums für Naturkunde Münster

Director

Dr. Marco Schade

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Free admission days 2026: March 21, May 17, June 14, October 4, November 28, December 29, and December 30.

The ticket also covers the Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum of the city of Bünde. Holders of the Ehrenamtskarte NRW and the Jugendleiter-Card (Juleica) receive a 50% discount on single admission. Tickets also online in the LWL ticket shop.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The museum is accessible to wheelchair users (elevator, accessible main entrance, accessible restroom). Marked assistance and guide dogs on a leash are allowed; other animals are not permitted. The museum app also offers all audio contributions as text.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

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

Holiday programs and the children's and youth museum with workshops (registration through the ticket shop, spots fill quickly). Children's birthday parties for up to 10 children aged 6 to 12 with a plaster cast of a fossil; bring your own food for the break area or museum garden. Children's rallies in the museum app.

Getting there & parking

By car via the A 30, Bünde interchange (from the direction of Hannover via the Bad Oeynhausen interchange and the A 30 to Hiddenhausen).

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Museum shop at the ticket desk.

Events & venue rental

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

Plan your visit