Wolfgang-Bonhage-Museum Korbach

Current exhibitions

About the museum

The museum's core is the antiquities collection of the Korbach bookbinder Carl Nelle, who began assembling his pieces in 1876 and handed them over to the town in 1924. Korbach then set up a local history museum in 1925, supported by the Bürgerverein St. Kilian, which still acts as its friends' association today. It was housed in a Gothic stone house from the 14th century next to St. Kilian's Church, originally used as a storehouse and converted into a residence in the 16th century.

As the collection grew, three neighboring half-timbered houses from the 18th and 19th centuries were added in 1934 and in the postwar period. Between 1994 and 1997, the Kassel architect Berthold Penkhues added a new building with a shell limestone facade to the ensemble; a glass-roofed atrium connects old and new. The project received several architecture and museum awards, including a special prize of the Deutscher Städtebaupreis (German Urban Design Award) in 1999. Since 2004 the museum has borne the name of former mayor Wolfgang F. Bonhage, who had driven the expansion.

On around 1,700 square meters, the permanent exhibition tells of the town's more than thousand-year history including the Hanseatic period, of gold, copper and iron mining on the Eisenberg, and of the prehistory and early history of Waldeck. Known far beyond the region are the roughly 250-million-year-old vertebrate fossils from the Korbacher Spalte (Korbach Fissure), including remains of the mammal-like Procynosuchus. Since 2015 the GeoFoyer Kalkturm at the find site has been part of the museum as a satellite site, and since 2017 so has the film archive of the media artist Thomas Henke. The collection comprises about 30,000 objects.

Highlights

• Diorama with life-size models of land vertebrates from the Permian period
• Fossils from the Korbacher Spalte, including the "Korbacher Dackel" (Korbach dachshund) Procynosuchus
• Gold casket with the only known gold bar from the Eisenberg
• Mayor's chain of office from the 16th century
• Award-winning architecture combining a Gothic stone house, half-timbered buildings and a new building
• GeoFoyer Kalkturm satellite site at the fossil site

Permanent exhibitions

• Korbacher Spalte – Original fossils and a diorama with life-size reconstructions show the land vertebrates that lived in the region about 250 million years ago.
• Goldbergbau am Eisenberg – Reconstructed shaft and gallery sections, a gold analysis lab and gold finds tell of centuries of gold mining near Korbach.
• Stadtgeschichte – The tour ranges from the town's beginnings as a trading place through the Hanseatic period to industrialization with a rubber goods factory and tire production.

Founded

1925

Operated by

Kreis- und Hansestadt Korbach

Admission & discounts

The museum ticket is also valid for the GeoFoyer Kalkturm Korbach (otherwise €1). Free admission with the guest cards MeineCardPlus, AuszeitCardPlus, Sauerland SommerCard and the Willinger Familienpass, as well as for members of the Bürgerverein St. Kilian, ICOM, DMB and FSJ volunteers.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• 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

According to the Korbach tourist information office, largely accessible, with wheelchair-accessible entrance and accessible restroom.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

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

The museum describes itself as child-friendly: hands-on stations marked in yellow, a fairy-tale cave with magnifying glasses and microscopes, and two age-graded museum scavenger hunts for 7- to 12-year-olds with small prizes. Children's birthday parties and group programs such as gold panning, fossil digging, and an adventure tour through the Old Town.

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