Museum der Stadt Lünen

Description

At the heart of Lünen’s town centre, the Museum der Stadt Lünen has occupied the heritage-listed Villa Urbahn as its new home since 1 July 2025 and stands directly next to the town hall. The institution combines historic fabric with contemporary architecture: the original building from the 1920s was restored, a modern extension complements the ensemble, and the two parts are connected.

Content-wise, the museum places emphasis on objects that can be experienced directly through the senses; the route is organized thematically and allows intuitive orientation. Tactile models and material samples are part of the interpretive concept, as are narrative object installations.

The permanent presentation tells the story of Lünen through thematic units with a focus on everyday life, economic development and the city’s formative personalities. Core areas include object narratives relating to work and industry, mementos from family and everyday culture, and an interactive “Treasures” wall with special exhibits. A room in the basement is used for rotating special exhibitions. In the Lünen Gallery, well-known personalities from the city are presented; visitors can integrate themselves into a digital silhouette portrait via a media application, which is stored in a database and displayed on a gallery wall.

Until 2023 the museum was housed in Schloss Schwansbell; with the move the exhibition concept was revised and parts of the former permanent exhibition were not retained. Previously shown themes included domestic interiors 1840–1930 with four living rooms and a bedroom, including a furnishing from the 1840s/1850s, as well as three rooms circa 1900 (the sitting room of a civil servant’s family and the kitchen-living room of a working-class family) and a gentleman’s room from 1930 with mementos from German East Africa.

Other historical holdings focused on cast iron and stoves—among them room stoves, ranges, workshop stoves and trench stoves—as well as examples of ornamental cast-iron work; on toys and dolls that reflect social ideals and point to child labour in doll production; on a ceramics collection with regional pottery and imported pieces; and on agricultural and craft implements displayed in a hall-like room of the former stable-and-barn building, supplemented by workshops such as tailor, bakery, wooden-shoe maker and cobbler.