Zinnfigurenklause

About the museum

The collection was started by the printer and collector Andreas Lehmann, who gathered tin figures and castle models and initially displayed his scenes elsewhere in the old town. In 1969, the city of Freiburg gave him the then-unused upper floor of the medieval Schwabentor gate; the sponsoring association regards this as the museum's founding year. By the mid-1980s, the city had acquired Lehmann's dioramas.

After Lehmann's death, Andreas Müller ran the museum from 1988 to 2008. Since 1989, the Klause has been run entirely by a volunteer friends' association, whose members cast and paint figures themselves, build display cases, and staff the museum.

On two floors of the gate tower, 21 dioramas and ten wall-mounted display cases with around 10,000 flat tin figures depict episodes from the struggles of peasants and townspeople in the region – from the Battle of Sempach in 1386 through the Peasants' War and the Reformation to the Baden Revolution of 1848. Other scenes are devoted to everyday life, crafts, and customs. Because the rooms cannot be heated, the museum is only open in the summer half of the year.

Highlights

• Museum in the medieval Schwabentor gate, reached via a spiral staircase
• Around 10,000 hand-painted tin figures in 21 dioramas
• Large diorama of the 1848 Baden Revolution with Freiburg's old town at a scale of 1:100
• Scenes of the Battle of Sempach, the Peasants' War, and the Reformation
• Shop with more than 500 tin figures

Permanent exhibitions

• Freiheitsbewegungen am Oberrhein 1386–1848 – Tin figure dioramas on Sempach, the Peasants' War, the Reformation, and the Baden Revolution, as well as everyday life and crafts in old Freiburg.

Founded

1969

Operated by

Freundes- und Förderkreis der Zinnfigurenklause im Schwabentor e.V.

Admission & discounts

Prices according to the city of Freiburg; not listed on the association's website. Free admission on open house days.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: not available
• Elevator: not available
• Accessible restroom: no information
• 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

Not accessible: entry only via a spiral staircase with around 50 steps.

Kids & families

• Stroller-friendly: not available

The exhibition in the Schwabentor can only be reached via a spiral staircase with 50 steps; the rooms are unheated.

Getting there & parking

In the Schwabentor at the eastern edge of Freiburg's Old Town, near the Platz der letzten Barrikade.

Amenities & dining

• Café: not available
• Restaurant: not available
• Museum shop

Shop with painted and unpainted tin figures.

Events & venue rental

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

Plan your visit