Felto - Filzwelt Soltau, Museum about felt in Soltau, Germany
Felto is a museum dedicated to felt-making in Soltau, located within five floors of a former felt warehouse and featuring interactive exhibits alongside working model machines. Visitors can participate in hands-on felting activities to understand how this craft works in practice.
Felt manufacturing as an industry in Soltau developed over more than 170 years and became a major part of the town's economy. The museum opened to the public in August 2015 to document and preserve this industrial heritage.
The ground floor holds a felt market with a shop, a fair-trade (Eine-Welt) shop, a bistro, a recycling workshop and an artists' studio. The exhibition was designed by the Hamburg agency Kunstraum GFK, and staff from the Heide-Werkstätten workshops of the Minerva organisation take on parts of the visitor service.
The exhibition occupies 1,360 m² on five barrier-free floors, reached by lift; the only external change to the 1877 brick building is the 23.70-metre lift tower with its viewing platform. Part of the factory courtyard, the Röders-Hof, is folded into the pedestrian zone at the entrance. The top-floor gallery and event room sit below that platform.
The lift tower added in 2014 is 23.70 metres high and is the only external change to the listed brick building, which dates from 1877 and was rebuilt after a fire in 1886. Its viewing platform sits one and a half storeys above the top gallery floor, looking over Soltau's roofs.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,832 contributors worldwide.
