Hebbel-Museum

About the museum

The museum honoring the dramatist Friedrich Hebbel, born in Wesselburen in 1813, was established in 1911, largely at the suggestion of the writer Adolf Bartels. For its first four decades it occupied the upper floor of a house on Süderstraße that was built only after Hebbel’s death and therefore had no connection to his life.

In 1949 the town of Wesselburen acquired the Alte Kirchspielvogtei on Österstraße, an 18th-century administrative building, and had it renovated. As a teenager, Hebbel had lived and worked in this house for seven years as a clerk to the parish bailiff (Kirchspielvogt). The museum moved here in 1952.

On the first floor, ten rooms tell the story of the poet’s life and work: five furnished rooms convey his living conditions in Wesselburen and in Vienna, where Hebbel spent his most successful years, and five more show pictures, manuscripts and documents. The museum also has a library considered the world’s largest specialist collection on Hebbel, which goes back to a donation by the collector Engelhard Herwig; it is used by researchers from around the world.

The municipal museum is run by volunteers. It is supported by the friends’ association founded in 2011, which funds events and acquisitions, and by the Hebbel Society, whose research center is attached to the museum. A regional history department with old photos and newspapers is open by appointment.

Highlights

• Clerk’s office in the Kirchspielvogtei where Hebbel worked as a young man
• Reconstructed birth room and Vienna room
• Hebbel’s reading glasses and a portrait of his daughter Christine
• Model of the old market town of Wesselburen
• Specialist Hebbel library with more than 6,000 works

Permanent exhibitions

• Leben und Werk Friedrich Hebbels – Ten rooms on the first floor of the Kirchspielvogtei: furnished rooms evoking Hebbel’s years in Wesselburen and Vienna, plus pictures, manuscripts and documents on his works.

Founded

1911

Operated by

Stadt Wesselburen

Director

Rüdiger Möller

Admission & discounts

Members of the friends’ association get in free. The town of Wesselburen gives the reduced youth age range as 13 to 18, the museum’s website as 13 to 17.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: no information
• 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 exhibition is on the first floor; no further accessibility information is provided.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

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

Search game through the museum developed by students (including with a flashlight in a darkened room); writing with a quill and ink and sealing with wax as in Hebbel's time.

Getting there & parking

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

Amenities & dining

• Café: not available
• Restaurant: not available

No café in the museum; the Hebbel Café is on the market square (Mittelstraße 2, Tue–Sun 13:00–17:30).

Events & venue rental

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

Plan your visit