LVR-Freilichtmuseum Kommern

Current exhibitions

About the museum

After planning in the 1950s, the Kahlenbusch hill near Kommern in the northern Eifel was chosen in 1958 as the site for a Rhineland open-air museum; around 30 municipalities had applied. The museum opened on July 20, 1961, under its founding director Adelhart Zippelius. It is run by the Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR) and also serves as the Rhineland state museum of folklore, today of everyday culture.

Over the following decades, farmhouses, barns, workshops, mills, a village school and other buildings from the former Prussian Rhine Province were dismantled and rebuilt on the roughly 110-hectare grounds. They are arranged in regional groups for Westerwald/Middle Rhine, Eifel, Lower Rhine and Bergisches Land, set among gardens, fields, orchards and woodland.

Since the 2000s, the museum has also turned its attention to the more recent past. In 2006 the permanent exhibition "WirRheinländer" opened, telling the story of the period from 1794 to around 1955 as a walk-through small town. The "Marktplatz Rheinland" building group, currently under construction, shows buildings from the postwar era up to the 1990s, including a Quelle prefab house, Nissen huts and a residential container for refugees.

Since 1968 the museum has also staged changing special exhibitions on everyday culture. Demonstrations, old breeds of domestic animals, living history with historical characters and around 70 events a year bring the visit to life.

Highlights

• Around 80 rebuilt historic buildings in five building groups
• Permanent exhibition "WirRheinländer" as a walk-through small town (1794 to around 1955)
• "Marktplatz Rheinland" building group with postwar buildings up to the 1990s
• Windmills and watermills, village school and communal bakehouse
• Old breeds of domestic animals and living history with historical characters

Permanent exhibitions

• WirRheinländer – Walk-through small town "Rhenania" on 1,400 square meters, which uses scenes and figures to tell Rhineland history from 1794 to the postwar economic miracle.
• Geburt im ländlichen Raum – Two rooms in the house from Hanf (Westerwald building group) explore home births and the work of midwives in the rural Rhineland of the early 20th century.

Founded

1961

Operated by

Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR)

Director

Carsten Vorwig

Admission & discounts

Free admission: Every second Friday of the month free admission for everyone

25% discount with cards including KulturCard Köln/Bonn, Eifelverein and Kurkarte Gemünd (visitor's card); 50% with the NRW Ehrenamtskarte (volunteer card). Free admission for groups including residents of Mechernich, members of the friends' association, DMB, ICOM, Förderverein NRW-Stiftung and refugees in the asylum process. Open Sunday guided tours €5 (children €2.50) plus admission.

Accessibility

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

Inspected under "Reisen für Alle" (Travel for All). Steep footpath from the parking lot to the ticket desk; three accessible parking spaces right at the ticket building (access via "Neue Pfalz") with step-free access. Low-barrier circular route with gradients under 6%; many historic houses only accessible over thresholds/steps, some with portable ramps. Exhibition rooms on the Museumsplatz are step-free or reachable by ramp or platform lift. Loaner wheelchairs, rollators and handcarts at the ticket desk; adult changing bench in the accessible restroom. Tactile stations at four building groups, video guide in sign language, audio guide and information in Easy Language (Leichte Sprache). Free shuttle between parking lot and ticket desk on weekends and public holidays during the summer season, 10:00–17:00.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

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

Its own children's museum guide with games, recipes, and a quiz, as well as the storybook about the dog Zubbel. Holiday program and children's birthday parties (e.g., baking in the Backes, historical children's games, pressing apple juice). Wagons can be borrowed at the ticket desk (€5 plus €10 deposit).

Getting there & parking

The museum is located on the K20/Eickser Straße between Kommern and Obergartzem and is signposted over a wide area.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Restaurant
• Museum shop
• Lockers

Restaurant "Zur Post" with beer garden (regional cuisine; closed Tuesdays in summer and Mondays in winter, open during school holidays), Watteler restaurant in 1970s style (coffee and cake, closed October–March), kiosk at the exhibition halls, museum bakery, ice cream stand in summer. Two museum shops (including a corner grocery store). Lockers at the ticket desk, picnic area.

Events & venue rental

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

Plan your visit