Photo: Heimatstube Bienrode

Heimatstube Bienrode

Local history room run by the Heimatverein Bienrode on the upper floor of the old village school, with everyday objects from farming, crafts, the home and school in the 19th and 20th centuries; visits by prior registration.

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About the museum

When Bienrode celebrated its 950th anniversary with a large village festival in 1981, a small historical exhibition came into being. It gave rise to the idea of the Heimatstube, which the Heimatverein Bienrode has run on a voluntary basis ever since. It is on the upper floor of the former Bienrode village school, which served as a school until the 1980s; the building belongs to the city of Braunschweig, and the seniors’ group meets on the ground floor.

Spread over three rooms – two former classrooms and the corridor – the Heimatstube shows objects from everyday life in the 19th and 20th centuries that have come together as donations and loans. They are grouped into themed islands: in the corridor, the focus is on Bienrode as a village of craftsmen and farmers, on the development of the village with maps and a model of a smallholder’s farmhouse, and on church and state before 1918, with, among other things, part of the baroque altarpiece, the church weathervane and a nail picture from the First World War. The main room shows domestic life with a reconstructed kitchen, a bedroom with washstand and a “gute Stube” (best parlour), while the second room covers school history, laundry washing, preserving, toys, the fire brigade and sport. Village life, with group photos and certificates, runs through the whole exhibition. After a three-year break during the pandemic, the association set up a further exhibition room in 2023.

Old ways of working such as processing sheep’s wool – washing, combing, spinning and knitting – and churning butter are demonstrated by the association on special event days and at village markets in the surrounding area; in the exhibition itself, the butter-making equipment, such as a butter churn and a hand-operated butter machine, can be seen.

Highlights

Themed islands on the village of craftsmen and farmers, local development and the church
Reconstructed kitchen, bedroom and “gute Stube” (best parlour)
School history from 1880 to 1980 in the old village school
Equipment for butter-making and laundry washing
Part of the baroque altarpiece and weathervane of the Bienrode church

Permanent exhibitions

Bienrode – Dorf, Handwerk und Kirche – In the corridor, small farming tools and the tools of shoemakers and carpenters, maps and a model of a smallholder’s farmhouse on the development of the village, and evidence of church and state before 1918.
Häusliches Wohnen und Leben – A reconstructed kitchen with an old stove, a bedroom with bed, chests and washstand, and a “gute Stube” (best parlour) with a gramophone and radio sets.
Schule und Alltag – School life from 1880 to 1980 with slate and inkwell, plus laundry washing, preserving, historic toys, a small fire pump and old sports equipment.