Open-air museum Mühlenhof

Learn more about the former Münsterland and experience with all your senses what life was like back then. Get a feel for what it was like to live in a smoke-filled mill house, to be educated in a one-class rural school or to be a teacher in a small village.

The country school, built in 1823, originally came from the farming community of Ringel near Lengerich in the north of Münsterland and was designed for up to 130 children. The one-room half-timbered house was used for schooling until 1954. Get a feel for how children were taught in rural Münsterland until the middle of the 20th century!

The mill house also dates from 1619 and is the oldest building in the museum. In the past, as today, ham, bacon and sausages were smoked over an open fire in this house. For this purpose, the meat products were hung under the ceiling, there was no chimney. Unimaginable for many, but in the thatched two-storey house people lived together with the animals in a small space. The smoke from the fire still drifts through the house to the outside.

The Dorfkrug is the traditional village tavern where you can enjoy a daily changing menu as well as fresh cakes from our own bakery. Right next to the Dorfkrug you will also find the museum shop, which with its furnishings is reminiscent of the village general shops of earlier times.

With tradition: crafts in the Münsterland

If you would like to learn more about the crafts of the past centuries, why not visit the blacksmith's shop, the shoemaker's house, the carpenter 's workshop or the old bakehouse. In the Mühlenhof open-air museum you can learn all about the typical crafts of the former Münsterland and much more besides.

A special highlight is certainly the original Bockwindmühle (windmill ) dating from 1748. The Bockwindmühle is so special because it is the oldest type of windmill in Westphalia and was numerous in Münsterland until the 19th century. Under good conditions, a good 40-50 hundredweights of grain could be ground with the mill that still exists today. A truly impressive building.

The Mühlenhof open-air museum is also a very special place for children, and there are always great activities on offer , such as fabric printing workshops or fairy tale lessons. It's always worth taking a look at the museum's calendar of events!