LWL-Museum Zeche Nachtigall

Current exhibitions

About the museum

Hard coal is documented as having been mined on the Hettberg near Witten from 1714, initially by farmers using adits and, from 1743, under the noble von Elverfeldt family. From 1832 the Neptun shaft marked the move to deep mining; steam engines from Friedrich Harkort's workshop tamed the inflowing water. In the 1850s and 1860s, the Vereinigte Nachtigall Tiefbau colliery, with several hundred miners, was one of the region's large mines, and its Hercules shaft reached a depth of 450 meters in 1876. Water problems and bankruptcy led to its closure in 1892.

That same year, the building contractor Wilhelm Dünkelberg acquired the site. He built a steam-powered brickworks whose double ring kiln, from 1897, fired up to eleven million bricks a year above the old Hercules shaft, and he had a tunnel driven through the Hettberg to transport the shale clay – today's Nachtigallstollen. After the brickworks closed in 1963, the site fell into decay and was last used as a car scrapyard.

On the initiative of local citizens, heritage conservation authorities and the city, the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) incorporated the site into its decentralized Westphalian Industrial Museum in 1979. After excavations and restoration, the museum opened in 2003. Exhibitions in the ring kiln vault, on the brickworks, on the small postwar mines and on coal shipping on the Ruhr open up three centuries of industrial history; the tunnel has been developed as a show mine since 1990. Since 2014 the colliery has also housed an information center of the Nationaler GeoPark Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr National GeoPark).

Highlights

• Guided tour through the Nachtigallstollen to a real coal seam
• Double ring kiln of the Dünkelberg brickworks (1897–1899)
• Steam winding engine from 1887 with demonstrations
• Replica Ruhr barge and water playground
• Small-mine exhibition “Zeche Eimerweise”
• GeoPark Ruhrgebiet information center as a starting point for exploring the Muttental

Permanent exhibitions

• Weg in die Tiefe – In the vault of the ring kiln above the Hercules shaft, the focus is on the transition from adit mining to deep mining – with models on mine ventilation, drainage and mine lighting.
• Ziegelei Dünkelberg – In the eastern ring kiln, the exhibition follows the path of shale clay from the quarry to the fired brick and describes the daily work of the brickmakers up to the 1960s.
• Zeche Eimerweise – Working replicas, photos and eyewitness accounts recall the more than 1,000 small mines that operated in the Ruhr region between 1945 and 1976.

Founded

2003

Operated by

Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL)

Director

Gerben Bergstra

Admission & discounts

Free admission with the LWL-MuseumsCard, LVR-Museumskarte, a Deutscher Museumsbund (German Museums Association) ID, ICOM card and the RuhrtopCard (once).

Accessibility

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

Certified under “Reisen für Alle” (Travel for All). Above-ground tours are suitable for wheelchair users; the show mine is not accessible for people with walking disabilities, walking aids or wheelchairs. Two rollators available to borrow, short guide in Easy Language at the ticket desk, digital media guide via QR code. The LWL regularly offers tours with sign language interpretation in its museums.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

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

Family Sunday on the 1st Sunday of every month with a free hands-on program and mining tours for children aged 4 to 6. With the "Püngelsack" (at the ticket desk), families can explore the grounds on their own; playground with a stream, boats can be borrowed at the ticket desk. Tunnel tours from age 6.

Getting there & parking

By car: A 43, exit Witten-Heven, via Herbeder Straße and Ruhrstraße (B 235); after the Ruhrbrücke, turn onto Nachtigallstraße.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Wi-Fi

Beer garden, bistro, and café "Waggon zur Nachtigall" (March 1–October 31, 2026, Tue–Sun 11:00–18:00). Wi-Fi throughout the museum.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Weddings / ceremonies

Civil wedding ceremonies in the Nachtigallstollen (about 60 m inside the hill, max. 20 people; tunnel use €120 plus fees of the Witten registry office). Receptions on the outdoor grounds or in the covered ring kiln area through the in-house catering.

Plan your visit