Klaus-Groth-Museum

Current exhibitions

About the museum

Klaus Groth's grandfather had the single-story gabled house in the Lüttenheid, the former quarter of craftsmen and farmer-townsmen on the edge of Heide's market square, rebuilt after a fire in 1796; the family ran a groats mill in it. Groth was born here in 1819 and lived in the house again during his time as a teacher in Heide. With his 1852 poetry collection "Quickborn", he proved that Low German (Plattdeutsch) was fit for literature, and he is regarded, alongside Fritz Reuter, as the founder of modern Low German literature. He shared a long friendship with the composer Johannes Brahms, whose family also came from the Lüttenheid.

Thanks to donations from the people of Heide, the birthplace opened as a museum in 1914; the town of Heide took it over in 1925. After renovations in the 1960s and 1980s, the house had to close again in 2011 because of severe structural and masonry damage; in 2016 it reopened, restored in line with heritage requirements, with a newly designed exhibition, listening stations and a media table.

Since 2001, the Groth house and the local history collection of the former Heide Heimatmuseum (local history museum) have together formed the Museumsinsel Lüttenheid. Over time, further buildings were added: the Alte Schmiede (old smithy), the horse stable with historic workshops, the Stade-Haus featuring Heide's comic pioneers Rudolph and Gus Dirks and the painter Nicolaus Bachmann, and in 2025 the Prien-Haus as the entrance building with a shop.

Highlights

• Klaus Groth's birthplace (1796) with reconstructed birth room and alcove bed
• Listening stations with Low German poems and musical settings
• Historic workshops in the former horse stable
• Comic pioneers Rudolph and Gus Dirks ("Katzenjammer Kids")
• The oldest tiled stove in northern Germany, buried in 1559 and reconstructed from shards

Permanent exhibitions

• Klaus-Groth-Haus – Leben und Werk des Dichters – In the birthplace, the birth room, kitchen and spinning room show life in the craftsmen's quarter around 1800; original documents, listening stations and a media table trace Groth's life, and milling equipment recalls the family's groats mill.
• Handwerk im alten Pferdestall – Fully equipped wheelwright's, carpenter's and shoemaker's workshops, as well as tailoring and goldsmithing, show the importance of crafts for the market town.
• Stade-Haus: Comic-Pioniere Dirks und Maler Nicolaus Bachmann – The brothers Rudolph and Gus Dirks, natives of Heide, shaped early American comics with the "Katzenjammer Kids"; on the first floor, paintings and furniture by Heide painter Nicolaus Bachmann are on display.

Founded

1914

Operated by

Stadt Heide

Director

Dr. Melanie Greinert (Leitung Museumsinsel Lüttenheid)

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Free admission to exhibition openings and closings, museum festivals, International Museum Day and Heritage Day (Tag des offenen Denkmals).

Admission is valid for all buildings of the Museumsinsel Lüttenheid. Free admission for members of the Deutscher Museumsbund, ICOM and the Museumsverband Schleswig-Holstein und Hamburg.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• 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 buildings of the Museumsinsel are at ground level or accessible via ramps; a wheelchair lift in the smithy provides access to the upper floors of the horse stable, Stade-Haus and smithy. The Klaus-Groth-Haus is only partially accessible. Please call ahead to request a nearby parking space for guests with limited mobility. Assistance dogs allowed.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

Children's tour "Life in the 19th Century" in the Klaus-Groth-Haus for children ages 4 to 8 (30 min.); tour "Getting to Know Heide and Klaus Groth" from grade 3.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Museum shop with a seating area in the Prien-Haus (books, catalogs, souvenirs; shipping on request).

Events & venue rental

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

Plan your visit