Bauernhausmuseum Bielefeld, Open-air museum in Bielefeld, Germany.
Bauernhausmuseum Bielefeld is an open-air museum in the Gadderbaum district of Bielefeld, in the Bielefeld city forest. Its main building is the 1590 three-post farmhouse of Hof Möllering from Rödinghausen, moved here after the 1995 fire destroyed the earlier Hof Meier zu Ummeln house. The grounds also hold a bakehouse from 1764, a post windmill from 1686, a Bokemühle from 1826, a Spieker from 1795 and a beehive from around 1900.
The museum was founded in 1917 and is the oldest open-air museum in the Westphalian region. Its creation shows how Germany sought to preserve its rural heritage in the early 20th century.
The museum displays the crafts and everyday items that show how people in this region lived and worked in earlier times. Visitors can see how farmers furnished their homes and what tools they used daily.
Wear comfortable shoes as the grounds include unpaved outdoor paths that require walking around the site. The best time to visit is in good weather when the gardens and outdoor areas are most welcoming.
The main house has no chimney: smoke from the open hearth rose through the roof, curing meat and sausages and keeping vermin away. The bakehouse oven still works; bread such as Pumpernickel was baked there every two to four weeks, after a fire had burned for six to eight hours.
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