Industriemuseum Elmshorn

About the museum

It began with the teacher and local historian Konrad Struve, who founded the museum on a volunteer basis in October 1953. From 1981 on, work and everyday life of the industrial age in the Lower Elbe region moved to the center of the collection, which to this day also includes objects on city history from prehistory and early history onward.

The museum building is a five-story warehouse that the porcelain and earthenware dealer Christian Hinrich Carstens had built around 1890 on Catharinenstraße. Later the wholesaler I. P. H. Kröger and a margarine factory stored their goods here; around 1970 the interior floors were reduced from five to four. In 1988 the city of Elmshorn bought the by then listed building, furnished it step by step, and opened it fully as an industrial museum by 1993; since 1991 it has been a municipal institution.

On four floors, the museum covers the leather, textile, and food industries, shipbuilding and the port, crafts, workers' housing and school, and the Nazi era. The permanent exhibition was modernized in stages over around ten years, most recently the first floor in 2022. Many stations invite you to try things out, and the steam engine is demonstrated. The museum also includes the Konrad-Struve-Haus der Ortsgeschichte (local history house) as a branch and the Jewish cemetery hall. The museum is recognized as a "Zertifiziertes Museum" (certified museum) in Schleswig-Holstein.

Highlights

• Historic steam engine with demonstration
• Leather production and looms of the textile industry
• Colonial goods shop and workers' apartment around 1920
• Museum classroom as around 1900
• Hands-on stations with Bertha the museum mouse

Permanent exhibitions

• Industrie und Arbeit (Erdgeschoss) – Steam engine, time clock, leather and textile production, and a counting house show how industrialization changed work and time.
• Handwerk, Hafen und Industriestandort (1. Obergeschoss) – Shipbuilding, port, mill, brickworks, and old crafts tell of Elmshorn's rise to an industrial center on the Krückau.
• Alltag, Schule und Zeitgeschichte (2. und 3. Obergeschoss) – Workers' apartment, colonial goods shop, and the food industry, plus a museum classroom and rooms on the Nazi era, the war, and the postwar period.

Founded

1953

Operated by

Stadt Elmshorn

Director

Sven Bracke

Admission & discounts

Members of the friends' association have free admission. Konrad-Struve-Haus and Jewish cemetery hall: free admission.

Accessibility

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

All floors reachable by elevator, ample space and seating in the exhibition rooms. Free mobile seating aids that also serve as walking and standing aids. Wheelchair-accessible restroom on the first floor. Touching is welcome at many stations; tours "Geschichte für alle Sinne" (History for All Senses) and tours for people with dementia. Accessible parking spaces in front of Schulstraße 20. No animals allowed except assistance dogs.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

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

Free museum suitcase with a puzzle booklet from kindergarten age and children's audio guide. At the hands-on stations with Bertha the museum mouse, children can operate the time clock, grind flour, try out the treadle sewing machine, or sit at the old school desk. Children's birthday parties (max. 10 children, except Sundays) with many themed programs, family tours, and holiday programs.

Getting there & parking

By car via the A 23, exit Elmshorn/Glückstadt, toward the city center; after the railway underpass turn right onto Berliner Straße, then right onto Schulstraße and left onto Catharinenstraße.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

Museum café with organic coffee and tea and cold drinks; museum shop with catalogs, publications on Elmshorn's history, and its own products. For groups, seating in the factory canteen and the museum courtyard.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Private parties
• Corporate events

Up to 80 guests.

Rooms on the first floor: private celebrations of up to 40 people with a mandatory 60-minute tour (catering possible, drinks through the museum), commercial events of up to 80 people in theater-style seating. Inquiries by email.

Plan your visit