Research & collections

In 1935, a local history museum was set up in several rooms of Neuenburg Castle, with an extensive regional history collection.

This still forms the basis of the holdings today, along with ethnological, geological, prehistoric and protohistoric exhibits.

The museum was heavily depleted by looting at the end of the Second World War. In 1951, it was re-opened as a museum of culture and natural history. An active period of collecting in the 1950s and ’60s focused mainly on wine-growing exhibits.

Since the museum’s re-opening in 1992, the main themes of the collection have revolved around the permanent exhibitions, with relics bearing testimony to the High Middle Ages, winegrowing and the history of how the castle was built and used. Regionalia are also collected.

In 2002, the family and friends of Peter Hüttel von Heidenfeld donated his collection concentrating on historical pocket watches to the museum. That collection is the centrepiece of the exhibition “Wunder-Werk–Taschen-Uhr” (The timepiece – a striking sensation). In addition to its extensive collection, the museum has a scientific library and an archive.