Beckum Town Museum

Beckum Town Museum

Permanent exhibitions provide interesting insights into the historical everyday life and industrial history of the town. Changing special exhibitions attract culture enthusiasts to Beckum time and again.

The museum in Beckum is not like any other town museum. When you enter the Haus der Stadtgeschichte, you find yourself right in the middle of the action, in the authentic "corner shop" that was in operation from 1908 to 1993. A few steps further on, you enter the living room of a cement works manager from 1910, while another room houses an old school classroom of the kind that often existed in the farming communities around Beckum. The museum's collections represent the historical development of Beckum from the 13th to the 19th century. Stone Age artefacts and documentation of Franconian settlement history bear witness to days gone by. Legal documents from the Hanseatic city and evidence of its impressive industrial history - particularly focussing on lime and cement - reflect Beckum's economic importance for the whole of Germany. A brief outline is dedicated to the town's former Jewish community, whose community school is documented in a chronicle. Famous for its carnival, Beckum can look back on a 500-year-old carnival tradition. The carnival room is therefore an attraction in the permanent exhibition of the town museum.
History

The building of the town museum fulfilled different purposes in its past. It has already served as a district court, savings bank, fire station, town guard, police station and prison. The history of the building can be traced back to 1441. It was rebuilt in 1879 and now has a tall gable that dominates the market square. It was not until 1986 that the town museum was established. Before that, the building was the seat of the city administration and the town hall.