Dorfmuseum Ottenbüttel

Village museum in a thatched hall house with a Flett and Döns (traditional farmhouse rooms), a shoemaker's room and a biotope; open the first Sunday of the month, 14:00–17:00.

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About the museum

The history of the village museum begins in 1969: at its first board meeting, the board of the Bürgergilde Ottenbüttel (citizens' guild) decided to research the village's history, which was hardly known to the public. Bruno Stockmann and Karl-Heinz Lohse founded the Abteilung Dorfchronik (village chronicle department) for this purpose, the first and smallest department of the guild. Objects, documents, photos, newspaper reports and files were collected.

In 1983 a permanent exhibition of the folklore collection was set up in the club room of the Füerwehr- un Dörpshuus (fire station and village hall); by 1988 it had grown to over 1,200 exhibits. A solution for written records was found in 1987: after the municipality bought the former bank building, it provided space for an archive with more than 10,000 pages of documents. In addition, there is the photo documentation “Ottenbüttel im Bild” (Ottenbüttel in Pictures), with old buildings, village views and postcards.

In 1988 the actual village museum was opened. It shows the life of farmers and craftsmen under the thatched roof of a hall house: the Flett, Döns and carpentry workshop, and a shoemaker's room in its original condition. Native birds and animals can also be seen in a biotope.