The Pollmann Smithy from Godelheim (Höxter district), built in 1777, is depicted in a condition around 1900.
Smithing posed a great fire hazard due to the fire pit and the chimney above it. For this reason, smithies were often located on the outskirts of villages. The village communities were dependent on a well-functioning smithy.
Important tasks of the smithy included shoeing workhorses and making tools from iron or steel, as well as iron fittings for carts. However, by 1900, many metal goods were already being manufactured industrially. Later on, agricultural machinery was also mostly produced in factories, and the village blacksmith only repaired it.
Hard-working hands are at work in the Witte bakery. The replica of the bakery was added to Haus Arneke, built in 1622 in the Hameln-Pyrmont district. The original oven was first put into operation in 1901 and is still in use today.
It is made of particularly fireproof bricks from the Rhine. The baking chamber is heated via flaps on the right and left sides of the mouth hole, the front opening of the oven. However, this means that heating and baking can only be done alternately. Today, baking is done in the exact same way as it was back then: every day, the oven is first heated, then bread, rolls, and cakes are prepared according to historical recipes. They are then baked and finally sold. The flour comes from organic farming.
With its glass-fronted daylight studio and backdrop painting from the year of construction in 1891, the Kuper Studio in Rietberg is a rarity that can still be used today. The photo studio can be reached via a staircase (equipped with a stair lift). Here, visitors can have their pictures taken digitally. On the upper floor, there is a film screening room, a darkroom, and an exhibition cabinet. In the adjacent Schwenger House, which is connected to the photo studio, visitors can take part in workshops and try out traditional techniques of analog photography.
The first documented owner of the house at the beginning of the 17th century was Simon Tiemann. After 1871, carpenter Karl Schmidt bought the house, and his descendants lived there until 1966. Carpentry was very important in Blomberg. The town’s many master carpenters specialized in the manufacture of chairs. They sold their furniture in large quantities at markets in Münster, Osnabrück, Braunschweig, and Kassel. At the museum, the house and workshop are shown as they would have looked around the year 1880. At that time, chair maker Karl Schmidt lived in the house with his family and an apprentice. The former hall in the rear building had been converted into a carpentry workshop.
Built in 1768, presentation
with tailor’s workshop
The design of this small house corresponds to a so-called Ern house. The Ern is the entrance and hearth room between the living area and the stable section of the building. Over the centuries, various families lived in the cottage, working in fields like textile industry and traditional crafts. Agriculture was only practiced for self-sufficiency. The cottage owes its name to one of these families: the Pippel family of carpenters lived in the house from the end of the 19th century. Today, Pippel’s Cottage houses a historic tailor’s workshop.
On the way from the museum entrance to the Minden farmstead (Mindener Hof), a small building with light blue plastered walls catches the eye. It is the Hehemann Pottery from the district of Osnabrück. The building dates back to 1828, and the museum displays it in its condition around 1930. The pottery is a hive of activity every day. Inside, you can see a firing oven, a foot-operated potter’s wheel, and shelves where the potters display their wares.
From the outside, Haus Golücke from Amelunxen (Beverungen, Höxter district) looks like a typical farmhouse from the Weser region. The house was built in 1767 by the Golücke family. Today, the house is more than just a historic farmhouse: in the 19th century, it was home to people who made their living from linen production. Accordingly, the museum’s textile workshop was set up in the Golücke House in 1999. Here, material science, harvesting, manufacturing, and care methods of the fabric are demonstrated daily.
This drying oven from Falkenflucht (Höxter, Höxter district) was built in the 19th century and relocated to the museum in 1980.
To dry fruit, people usually used existing bake ovens. Freestanding drying ovens were very rare in Westphalia. This oven stood near the city of Höxter on the edge of an orchard. The small quarry stone building has a firing chamber at the rear. From there, heated air is directed through two channels to the front. The oven had to be fired up two to three days before drying. Apple rings, pear slices, and plums were dried on so-called “Hürden”, i.e., wooden frames with wickerwork, in the hot air inside the oven.
The flax oven originates from the Theßeling Farm in Hengeler (Stadtlohn, Borken district) and was built around 1860.
Flax cultivation and linen production have a long tradition in Westmünsterland, giving rise to a flourishing textile industry around 1850. After soaking for days in small ponds (flax retting), the flax had to be dried so that the fibers could be more easily separated from the now brittle stems. For this purpose, the Westmünsterland region had its own flax ovens, which were located away from the farms due to the high risk of fire. The museum’s flax oven has two brick vaults. After heating and removing the embers and ashes, the hot oven was filled with wet flax and then sealed.
