Gruberhof, Open-air museum in Groß-Umstadt, Germany
Gruberhof is an open-air museum set on a traditional farmstead in Hesse featuring multiple preserved buildings. The site includes a residential building, garden, blacksmith shop, bakery, and worker quarters spanning different periods.
The farmstead's documented history begins with executioner Johann Schwert, who left for Gießen in 1708 while keeping his inheritance rights in Umstadt. Through the Klotz family of Frankfurt executioners, the property passed down until the male line died out in 1908 and it came by marriage to the Gruber family, who ran a sheep flock of several thousand head until the mid-1970s. The city bought the complete farm at the turn of 1986/1987 and opened it as a museum at Easter 1987.
The farm's name comes from the Gruber family who shaped its character for many years. The grounds show how people in this region worked and made everyday items by hand.
The museum is open on Sundays from Easter until the end of October, and also on certain event dates. Admission is free. The farmyard is laid out as a three-sided courtyard, with the individual workshops entered separately from the inner courtyard.
The museum houses a fully equipped 1920s pharmacy display with original preserved bottles and equipment. Excavations at the site uncovered a Frankish warrior skeleton, which is now also displayed at the location.
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