Museum Steinheim Castle, Regional heritage museum in Hanau-Steinheim, Germany

Museum Steinheim Castle occupies the Main-side wing of the former Kurmainz castle in Steinheim's old town. Its permanent exhibition runs chronologically from the oldest human finds on the ground floor through the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages to the Roman period, the early Middle Ages, and the castle and town history upstairs. A reconstructed Mithraeum with the rotating relief from Rückingen stands in a cellar vault.

The castle was built and expanded over several centuries, bringing together different architectural styles within its walls. It was opened as a museum in 1986 and has served since then as a place to preserve the region's history.

The museum keeps a receipt from the Salisberg vicus, the oldest surviving document in Germany with an exact date, written on a wooden tablet. Its education programme includes sessions on Stone Age life and work, cooking from Roman recipes and baking bread in a clay oven.

The permanent exhibition occupies the Main-side wing of the main building; the keep can be climbed in the summer months, and its parapet walk gives a view over much of the Rhine-Main area. The castle courtyard is occasionally used for museum education, while temporary exhibitions are held in the Marstall. The site is not wheelchair accessible.

The building shows clearly on its walls and floors the different construction phases from various time periods. If you look carefully, you can see which parts were added later and which belonged to the original structure.