Zwei-Siele-Museum

Description

In the Westeraccumersiel district of the Dornum municipality in East Frisia stands the Zwei-Siele-Museum, a local history museum devoted to the coastal and local history of the region. It documents landscape development along the Accumer Ee as well as the development of the two neighbouring siel harbours, and pays particular attention to the merchant shipping of the 18th and 19th centuries and to the fisheries in Dornumersiel and Westeraccumersiel. The museum’s name refers to its location on a former political boundary between East Frisia and the Harlingerland, which necessitated the construction of two siele immediately next to one another.

The museum is housed in a listed dyke house immediately on the western side dyke of the former harbour of Westeraccumersiel. The building at Am alten Hafen 1 dates from 1696; the harbour itself had been laid out in 1687. An expert report attests to largely original building fabric. Although the house suffered damage in the storm floods of 1717 and 1825, it retained essential structural elements because its location on the west side of the harbour exposed it less to wave action. Only after a professional assessment was the building complex placed under monument protection and made eligible for restoration funding.

The museum’s sponsoring body traces back to a support association founded in 1978, which originally took part in a competition call to establish a museum of siel harbours. After a different site was chosen, the association developed its own concept for the twin settlements Dornumersiel and Westeraccumersiel and later changed its name. A foundation acquired the house in 2012; after clearance, inspection and comprehensive restoration, the museum opened in April 2019.

The ground-floor exhibition on the dyke side is laid out as a circular route. Two focal themes structure the displays: coastal development around the Accumer Ee, including the history of the siel harbours, and the domestic and living conditions of the captains of sailing vessels over several centuries. The museum association offers guided tours in Standard German and Low German (Plattdeutsch) for individual visitors, groups and school classes, as well as regular guided bicycle tours around the western and eastern Dornumer Bay.