Museum am Gradierwerk

About the museum

The museum occupies an inhalation building erected around 1870, where local brine was used for medicinal purposes until the 1990s. Since May 2013 it has housed a museum of regional and saline history, run by the Museumsverein Bad Salzungen e. V. (association). It stands in a historic ensemble of graduation tower, drinking hall and drilling tower.

Three rooms on the upper floor house the permanent exhibition. It covers the origin and early extraction of salt, the history of the Salzungen saltworks, the transformation of the place from village to spa town, and the development of spa culture. On the ground floor are the tourist information office and rooms for changing exhibitions.

In the museum garden stands a boiling house where salt is boiled; around 1,200 years of saltworks history are vividly presented here. The neighboring drilling tower is a technical monument and still pumps brine today; in the machine house, an exhibition and pumping equipment recall the beginnings of potash mining.

Highlights

• Salt-boiling demonstrations in the boiling house (March–October, last Saturday of each month)
• Around 1,200 years of saltworks and salt history
• Spa culture from its beginnings to today
• Drilling tower and machine house as a technical monument
• Location between the Gradierwerk and the drilling tower

Permanent exhibitions

• Salz, Saline und Kurgeschichte – The permanent exhibition on the upper floor shows how salt forms and was extracted, how the saltworks developed and how Bad Salzungen became a spa town.
• Siedehütte mit Schausieden – In the boiling house in the museum garden, it is demonstrated how salt is boiled from brine.
• Bohrturm und Maschinenhaus – Technical monument with pumping technology and an exhibition on the beginnings of potash mining.

Founded

2013

Operated by

Museumsverein Bad Salzungen e. V.

Admission & discounts

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: not available
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The museum is only partly accessible: the elevator is not suitable for electric wheelchairs, and the toilets can be used neither with a wheelchair nor with a rollator. Better equipped toilets are available in the neighboring Gradierwerk.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops

Museum education offers programs for families, school classes and senior groups, for example on the themes of salt researchers, salt chemistry, health, and legends and fairy-tale motifs. Children up to 16 years of age enter free.

Getting there & parking

The museum is in the center of Bad Salzungen, directly between the brine graduation wall and the drilling tower.

Amenities & dining

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit