Kreismuseum Wewelsburg

Three towers, many stories!

The Wewelsburg castle was rebuilt between 1603 and 1609 in its unique triangular shape in the Weser Renaissance style by Prince-Bishop Dietrich von Fürstenberg, incorporating older buildings. It is situated high above the Almetal valley on a mountain spur.

Today, Wewelsburg Castle is home to a youth hostel and the district museum with its two museum sections: the Historical Museum of the Paderborn Diocese and the Wewelsburg 1933 - 1945 Memorial. Regular special exhibitions and events complement the popular group and educational museum offerings.

Historisches Museum des Hochstifts Paderborn

The history of the Paderborner Land is traced from the Stone Age to the end of the Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn in 1802 with rare exhibits and stagings in an experience-oriented way. The exhibition in the south-east wing of Wewelsburg Castle tells the story of the life of the clergy, the nobility and the population in the numerous towns through to the peasant classes and social outsiders.

See monuments such as the historic witches' cellar and an original piece of the old Hellweg from the 13th century as well as unique sacred treasures. The unique Baroque and Rococo sacral treasures provide a vivid picture of life in past centuries.

The Wewelsburg 1933 - 1945 Memorial

Between 1933 and 1945, Heinrich Himmler ordered the construction of a central meeting place for the SS at Wewelsburg Castle. A concentration camp was built on site for the planned expansion. At least 1,285 prisoners died as a result of the living and working conditions as well as harassment by the SS guards.

The permanent exhibition "Ideology and Terror of the SS" in the former guard building embeds the history of local SS activities and the concentration camp here in a national overall presentation of the SS. The Schutzstaffel (SS), its ideology and its unprecedented crimes are comprehensively addressed.

The permanent exhibition presents objects from the living environment of the perpetrators and material evidence from the concentration camp in a museum-like, multimedia and multi-perspective way. In the north tower of Wewelsburg Castle, two rooms preserved in Nazi architecture bear witness to the inhuman megalomania of the SS.

With the exception of the dungeon and the cellar room in the south-east wing and the crypt in the north tower, the museum sections are accessible with the help of museum staff.


Special exhibition from 17.06.-19.09.2023:
"1123: Wewelsburg Castle in the Middle Ages"

Visitors are taken back to the medieval history of today's castle. Its predecessor buildings are discussed, as are the noble families who lived together in Wewelsburg Castle in the late Middle Ages. Their bailiwick rights to the nearby Böddeken Abbey tied it to the castle from the High Middle Ages onwards. It was only when Paderborn Bishop Dietrich IV von Fürstenberg redeemed the pledged castle in 1589 and soon afterwards ordered its conversion into a palace that this connection between Wewelsburg Castle, its noble inhabitants and Böddeken Abbey came to an end.

The exhibition is located in the castle hall. Admission is free.

Information on accessibility

• Wewelsburg Castle - Accessibility -->
  
• Detailed information on the accessibility of the Wewelsburg Memorial -->
  
• Detailed information on the accessibility of the Wewelsburg District Museum -->