Stadtmuseum Schloss Wolfsburg
Schloßstraße 8, Remisen, 38448 Wolfsburg, T: +49 (0) 5361 281040
CASTLE AND TOWN HISTORY AT A GLANCE
Castle Wolfsburg is 700 years old, and was rebuilt and expanded 500 years ago into an impressive testimony of the North German renaissance. The city of Wolfsburg was founded only 75 years ago. The City Museum in Castle Wolfsburg portrays the historical developments of both places in hundreds of documents, listening stations with music and eyewitness accounts, in museum books and drawers, interactive media and films.
In the authentic ambience of the castle outbuildings, between the defensive walls and lattice, you can find a foundation pile of the castle, an ancient boundary stone between Prussian and Brunswick lands, a portrait of an important lady of the castle and a handwritten court book from the 18th century. Everyday things like a VW plant ID, a pay packet with a cinema program printed on it, or a bag lamp, kidney-shaped table and lounge chairs document how Wolfsburg became the “economic miracle city” in the 1950s. In audio contributions, Wolfsburg citizens remember this “wild” foundation time in their city. Some of the exhibits are quite extraordinary, such as a fully preserved hair salon in the design of that time. Surprising at first, they tell a very special city history.
The documentary about the National Socialist tyranny shown on the upper floor is devoted to this important chapter from the founding days of the factory and the city. The National Socialist planning and reality in the “model workers’ city” and the fate of thousands of forced laborers and prisoners of war are showcased, also based on personal memorabilia.
Two other departments, agricultural history and the history of Castle Neuhaus, complete the topical variety of the museum. In the old brewery barn of Castle Wolfsburg, the city museum presents its collection of agricultural equipment and machinery, complementing the city’s history museum exhibition with the history, past and present of the long-time rural and predominantly agricultural districts of Wolfsburg. The history of Castle Neuhaus, built in 1371, and of its users, from knights and office men in the service of the dukes of Brunswick, to the artists working at Castle Neuhaus today, is showcased in the castle museum, looked after by the dedicated members of the Friends of Castle Neuhaus.
Regular exhibitions at the City Museum expand on specific topics. Furthermore, the museum team , whose motto is “History alive”, offers an extensive and varied program of specific museum and castle tours, student workshops, discussion groups, lectures or one-time events for various target groups.
