Hagen Open-air Museum, Open-air museum and brewery on Industrial Heritage Trail in Hagen, Germany.
The Hagen Open-air Museum is a large site with sixty relocated workshops that display traditional manufacturing techniques from the Westphalia region. These buildings sit across a valley setting where visitors can observe how people worked and produced goods in earlier centuries.
The museum was established in 1960 and preserves working methods from the 18th and 19th centuries when craftsmanship and small-scale manufacturing dominated the region. The workshops were gathered from different locations to save these practices from disappearing.
The workshops showcase traditional crafts like ropemaking, smithing, brewing, baking, and papermaking through daily demonstrations that show how these trades shaped community life. Visitors can watch artisans work and understand the skills that were once essential to everyday survival.
The site is accessible and requires time to explore since the grounds spread across a large area with many buildings to visit. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended as you will move between different workshop locations throughout your visit.
The water-powered hammer workshop stands out as visitors can watch how historical metalworking relied on natural water sources to drive heavy machinery. This working demonstration shows how rivers and streams provided the energy needed to shape metal before modern power arrived.
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