Ipf-Museum Bopfingen

About the museum

The Seelhaus was built in 1505 as a half-timbered building and served the Free Imperial City of Bopfingen as a care home for elderly and needy citizens; it was financed by a citizens' foundation. After the Thirty Years' War, a married couple managed the house. When inflation after World War I wiped out the foundation's assets, apartments were built into it.

In 1987 the town converted the renovated building into the Städtisches Museum (municipal museum). It displayed archaeological finds from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, including material from the Ipf and from an early Celtic farmstead in the Osterholz area with fragments of Attic pottery, and, on the upper floor, the town's history with crafts, church and agriculture.

As part of the state of Baden-Württemberg's Celtic initiative, the museum was completely reconceived over about two years and reopened in October 2025 as the Ipf-Museum. It is now devoted to the Ipf, one of the most important early Celtic princely seats in the state, and to the life of its inhabitants in the Early Iron Age, with analog and digital stations on clothing, food, religion, weapons, house building and burial. The overall project, which cost around €2.4 million and was largely funded by the federal government, the state and the Ostalbkreis district, also includes an open-air site with Celtic building types at the foot of the hill and a digital tour with animations of the fortifications along the path to the summit plateau.

Highlights

• Redesigned exhibition on the early Celtic princely seat on the Ipf
• Interactive and digital hands-on stations on everyday Celtic life
• Late medieval half-timbered house from 1505
• Open-air site at the Ipf with Celtic building types
• Digital tour with animations of the Ipf plateau

Permanent exhibitions

• Ipf-Museum: Geschichte und Archäologie des Ipf – A newly conceived exhibition on the early Celtic princely seat and the life of the people at the Ipf, with digital animations and hands-on stations.

Founded

1987

Operated by

Stadt Bopfingen

Admission & discounts

Holders of the Ehrenamtskarte Baden-Württemberg (volunteer card) pay €5. The open-air site and the digital tour at the Ipf are free.

Accessibility

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

Kids & families

• Hands-on stations

Interactive hands-on stations invite visitors to discover the world of the Celts through play.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

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

Events & venue rental

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

Plan your visit