Deutsches Märchen- und Wesersagenmuseum

Over het museum

The museum opened in 1973 and goes back to the donation of the private fairy-tale collection of the folklorist and writer Karl Paetow, who initially directed the house on a volunteer basis; since the 1980s it has been run full-time. It is housed in the Art Nouveau villa that Paul Baehr had built at the edge of the Kurpark.

The permanent exhibition on the ground floor explains what fairy tales and legends are, who collected or wrote them, and what they are about, from the Brothers Grimm, Bechstein, Andersen, and Hauff to legendary figures of the Weser region such as the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Widukind, Münchhausen, or Doctor Eisenbart. Changing exhibitions on the upper floor round out the offering, and in the attic there is a reference library of around 16,000 volumes. The museum collects the "visualized fairy tale": books, prints, figures, and everyday objects with fairy-tale motifs, mainly from the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Since 1993 a storytelling circle has met at the museum, whose members lead public storytelling hours and fairy-tale walks. The town is now examining the Nazi past of the founder: since 2025, a provenance project funded by the Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste (German Lost Art Foundation) has been examining whether the founding collection contains Nazi-looted art.

Hoogtepunten

• Dioramas with fairy-tale scenes
• Fairy-tale leporellos by the artist Warja Lavater
• Legendary figures of the Weser region from the Pied Piper to Münchhausen
• Specialist library with around 16,000 volumes
• Public fairy-tale storytelling hour every first Sunday of the month

Vaste collectie

• Die Welt der Märchen und Sagen – Cultural-historical tour on the ground floor about fairy-tale collectors and authors, motifs and meanings of fairy tales, as well as legends, fables, and farces, with a reading corner, dioramas, and a wishing well.

Opgericht

1973

Beheerder

Stadt Bad Oeynhausen

Directie

Hendrik Tieke

Bezoekers per jaar

ca. 5.476 (2018)

Toegangsprijzen & kortingen

No card payment possible. School classes and daycare groups from Bad Oeynhausen have free admission.

Toegankelijkheid

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd – vraag het rechtstreeks na bij het museum.

Kinderen & gezin

Erg geschikt voor kinderen & gezinnen

• Gezinsrondleidingen & workshops
• Speurtocht, doeboekje of kinderaudiotour
• Kinderfeestjes

The exhibition is aimed more at adults; play activities and quiz sheets introduce children to the topic. Public fairy-tale storytelling hour every 1st Sunday of the month (16:00–17:00, for everyone aged 4 and up), fairy-tale walks in the Kurpark from April to October, children's birthday parties for up to 12 children, and programs for daycare centers and elementary schools.

Bereikbaarheid & parkeren

Service & horeca

• Museumwinkel

Museum shop run by the friends' association with fairy-tale books, postcards, games, and antiquarian fairy-tale books.

Evenementen & zaalverhuur

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd – vraag het rechtstreeks na bij het museum.

Je bezoek plannen