LWL-Museum für Erdgeschichte

Over het museum

The museum's roots go back to the early 20th century, when the Bünde teacher Friedrich Langewiesche began recovering fossils at the Doberg. His finds – including the skeleton of a prehistoric sea cow – formed the foundation of the geological department of the Kreisheimatmuseum (district local history museum), founded in 1937, which was housed together with the Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum in the Striedieckscher Hof.

Under museum director Eberhard Pannkoke, the idea of a separate geological building arose. With the support of a friends' association, the district of Herford, and the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, a new building was constructed on Bünde's Museumsinsel (museum island); the revised permanent exhibition followed in 2003. Due to structural defects, the building was closed from 2009 for renovation and reopened at the end of 2011.

In September 2025 the LWL took over the museum as a branch of its natural history museum in Münster; since July 2026 it has been called the LWL-Museum für Erdgeschichte. The focus is the Doberg, a site recognized as a National Geotope since 2019, whose rock layers document the Oligocene with unusual completeness. The exhibition in the basement shows around 1,000 mostly regional fossils and rocks. Admission includes the neighboring municipal Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum, which presents the culture of tobacco and the history of Bünde's cigar industry.

Hoogtepunten

• Fossil sea cow from the Oligocene, about 30 million years old
• Skulls and jaw remains of prehistoric toothed whales from the Doberg
• Around 1,000 fossils and rocks across 550 m² in the basement
• Hands-on stations and objects to touch
• Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum in the half-timbered farmstead of 1828 (included in the ticket)

Vaste collectie

• Expedition Doberg – Eine subtropische Vergangenheit – Geological and paleontological show in the basement: fossils of sharks, sea cows, toothed whales, and seabed dwellers show that about 30 million years ago Bünde lay on a warm shallow sea; plus hands-on stations.
• Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum – Municipal exhibition in the Striedieckscher Hof with over 2,000 exhibits and media stations on the cultural history of tobacco, Bünde's cigar industry, and the consequences of smoking.

Beheerder

Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL), Außenstelle des LWL-Museums für Naturkunde Münster

Directie

Dr. Marco Schade

Toegangsprijzen & kortingen

Gratis toegang: Free admission days 2026: March 21, May 17, June 14, October 4, November 28, December 29, and December 30.

The ticket also covers the Deutsches Tabak- und Zigarrenmuseum of the city of Bünde. Holders of the Ehrenamtskarte NRW and the Jugendleiter-Card (Juleica) receive a 50% discount on single admission. Tickets also online in the LWL ticket shop.

Toegankelijkheid

• Rolstoeltoegankelijk
• Lift
• Aangepast toilet
• Gehandicaptenparkeerplaats: geen informatie
• Hulphonden welkom
• Tastmodellen / voelbare objecten: geen informatie
• Rondleidingen in gebarentaal: geen informatie
• Informatie in eenvoudige taal: geen informatie
• Audiodescriptie: geen informatie

The museum is accessible to wheelchair users (elevator, accessible main entrance, accessible restroom). Marked assistance and guide dogs on a leash are allowed; other animals are not permitted. The museum app also offers all audio contributions as text.

Kinderen & gezin

Erg geschikt voor kinderen & gezinnen

• Gezinsrondleidingen & workshops
• Speurtocht, doeboekje of kinderaudiotour
• Doe- en voelstations
• Kinderfeestjes

Holiday programs and the children's and youth museum with workshops (registration through the ticket shop, spots fill quickly). Children's birthday parties for up to 10 children aged 6 to 12 with a plaster cast of a fossil; bring your own food for the break area or museum garden. Children's rallies in the museum app.

Bereikbaarheid & parkeren

By car via the A 30, Bünde interchange (from the direction of Hannover via the Bad Oeynhausen interchange and the A 30 to Hiddenhausen).

Service & horeca

• Museumwinkel

Museum shop at the ticket desk.

Evenementen & zaalverhuur

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

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