Museen

Lots of things can be explored in the Blankenheim area by interested visitors. Many museums tempt the visitors with different topical main emphases.

The “Eifelmuseum” in Blankenheim displays the landscape, nature, the people and their historical development of the north-west Eifel. The “Karnevalsmuseum” (museum of carnival), which is located in the ancient “Georgstor” (George’s gate) shows famous carnival traditions from the year 1613 until today. The exhibition on natural history at the “Hirtenturm” (shepherd tower) hosts among others the department of prehistory and early history. You can visit varying exhibitions in the gallery workshop sited at the “Hirtenturm”.

At the “Freilichtmuseum Kommern” (open-air exhibition in Kommern) approximately 80 old, well worth preserving buildings, which had been located in the Eifel, Westerwald or in the Lower Rhine valley, were dismantled for this purpose and built up again. Farms, mills and baking houses can be visited, and in addition, old working methods are demonstrated: sheep-shearing, crafting of flax and extraction of charcoal.
A visitor mine and a bordering mining museum are sited in Mechernich. Here the visitors are brought close to the mining history of the Bleiberg and to extraction and processing techniques of lead ore. At the visitor mine one gets to know the miners’ world of work.

At the “Eisenmuseum Jünkerath” (museum of iron in Jünkerath) examples of the art of iron foundry and its development in the course of the centuries ranging from the Celts, Romans to the present time can be seen. Even today iron is still processed in Jünkerath.

The “Glasmuseum Rheinbach” (glass museum in Rheinbach) offers the possibility to watch glassblowers at work. The museum shows the art of glass and its development during the last centuries.

An old, Roman villa was excavated in Ahrweiler. The museum displays findings; the former manor house can be visited.

The “Erlebnis-Park am Nürburgring” (amusement park at the Nürburgring) contains a museum, which shows the racing history not only of the Nürburgring.

The “Geologisch-Mineralogische Sammlung Hillesheim” (geological and mineralogical museum in Hillesheim) explains fossils, rocks and minerals found within the region and the entire world. It is located in the “Bolsdorfer Tälchen” (Bolsdorf valley) where you can also find four topical nature trails.