Sauerland-Museum, Regional museum in Arnsberg, Germany
The Sauerland-Museum occupies the Landsberger Hof in Arnsberg, a building erected in 1605 by Elector Ernst von Bayern for his lady-in-waiting Gertrud von Plettenberg on a French model. Since 1937 the museum has used this house, and a modern extension opened in 2019. Its permanent display covers the history of the former Duchy of Westphalia, whose centre lay in the Sauerland, from the Stone Age and the knights through Christianisation to the duchy's end around 1800 and on to the present, with attention to National Socialism in the region.
The Sauerland-Museum opened on 3 May 1925 in the old town hall's wedding room as the Sauerländer Heimatmuseum. In 1937 it moved into the Landsberger Hof, built in 1605 for Gertrud von Plettenberg, and was renamed Sauerland-Museum in 1964. The Hochsauerlandkreis has run it since 1975, and a modern extension opened in 2019.
The museum displays how people in the Sauerland region lived and worked, from crafts to everyday objects used in daily life. The exhibitions show local traditions and how the landscape shaped the lives of those who called it home.
The museum occupies the Landsberger Hof and the neighbouring Blaues Haus, which was converted for staff and events in 2013; the modern extension opened in 2019. The permanent exhibition is organised as a circuit through three themed sections, with media stations along the way. A museum café existed in a side building from 2002 for over twenty years.
The museum opened on 3 May 1925 in the wedding room of Arnsberg's old town hall, during the Sauerländer Heimattag, because the Landsberger Hof then housed the savings bank. It only moved into the Hof in 1937, when the district of Arnsberg took over its running.
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