Emsland Moormuseum

Description

In the southern Bourtanger Moor near Groß Hesepe, the Emsland Moormuseum presents the cultural and technological history of the moorland between tradition and industrialization.

The museum is located west of Groß Hesepe in the municipality of Geeste and thus within the area of the Bourtanger Moor, which once covered around 1,200 km² and is today part of the Internationaler Naturpark Bourtanger Moor‑Bargerveen. The institution is sponsored by the Landkreis Emsland and the municipality of Geeste via a registered association; each year the museum attracts several tens of thousands of visitors.

The institution was founded in 1976; the first large machines were placed in the outdoor area in 1979. Since 2003 the exhibition spaces have also housed a library and archive. In 2006 one of the halls underwent comprehensive modernization. Between 2009 and 2010 a second hall of about 2,000 m² was built; with this extension the museum became one of the largest moor museums in Europe. In 1999 a settler’s farm designed after historical models was added to the site; this area, recognized as an Archehof, illustrates rural domestic life and is home to endangered regional domestic animal breeds such as the Bentheimer Landschaf, the Bentheimer Schwein, the Niederungsrind, the Westfälische Totlegerhuhn and the Diepholzer Gans.

The permanent exhibitions and the outdoor area document the transition from moor colonization to industrial peat extraction. On roughly 20 hectares of raised bog, in two exhibition halls and in an open machinery park, historical working methods and large machines are shown. Central to the presentation is the steam plough “Mammut,” erected in working position together with its associated portable steam engines; in addition, bucket-chain excavators, turf-lifting and transfer machines and transport equipment are on display. On the outdoor site, hand peat cutting and mechanized extraction illustrate the different methods of production; a field railway with historic vehicles connects the various parts of the site.

The collection comprises around 18,500 objects related to moor cultivation, peat extraction and settlement history. The library, image archive and graphic collections have been consolidated and document the technical and landscape development; a significant subcollection on peat-construction technology is an integral part of the scientific holdings.