The Schwarzwälder Freilichtmuseum Vogtsbauernhof (Black Forest Open Air Museum Vogtsbauernhof) is an open air museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 in the Black Forest

Black Forest

The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, located between Hausach

Hausach

Hausach is a town in the Ortenaukreis, in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the Black Forest, on the river Kinzig, 25 km southeast of Offenburg.-External links:...

 and Gutach

Gutach (Schwarzwaldbahn)

Gutach is a town in the district of Ortenau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....

.

The museum is centred on the Vogtsbauernhof farmhouse dating from 1612, which was built on this site. Other buildings from the Black Forest have been dismantled, transported to the museum and reassembled.

Attractions

There are six fully furnished farmhouses:

• Vogtsbauernhof - built on the site, altitude 260m, in 1612. Inside is an exhibition of typical work carried out by travelling craftsmen.
• Hotzenwaldhaus - from Hotzenwald, altitude 920m. Built in 1756. Exhibition of Black Forest textile handicraft.
• Falkenhof - from Dreisamtal, altitude 530m. Built in 1737. Exhibitions are on dairy and livestock farming in the Black Forest and a comparison of historical and modern light sources.
• Schauinslandhaus - from Schauinsland
  Schauinsland
  The Schauinsland , is a mountain in the Black Forest with an elevation of 1,284 m above sea level....
  
  , altutude 1100m. Built in 1730. Exhibition of woodworking craft.
• Hippenseppenhof - from Furtwangen-Katzensteig, altitude 920m. Built in 1599. Exhibitions on clocks and traditional costumes of the Black Forest.
• Lorenzenhof - from Oberwolfach
  Oberwolfach
  Oberwolfach is a town in the district of Ortenau in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the site of the Mathematical Research Institute of Oberwolfach, or Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach.- Geographical situation :...
  
   in the Kinzig
  Kinzig (Rhine)
  The Kinzig is a river in southwestern Germany, a right tributary of the Rhine.It runs for 95 km from the Black Forest through the Upper Rhine River Plains. The Kinzig valley and secondary valleys constitute the largest system of valleys in the Black Forest...
  
   valley, 350m. Built in 1608. Exhibitions of forestry management and glassblowing and a collection of regional stone and minerals.

Other buildings include a day labourer's cottage (1819) and outbuildings including a mill (1609), a sawmill (1673), barns, stalls, a chapel (1736), a storehouse (1601-1746) and a granny house (Leibgedinghaus - 1652).

Around the buildings are farm animals and a herb garden with over 130 medicinal herbs. Demonstrations of exhibitions illustrate the crafts, tools, customs, traditions, work and lifestyle of former times.

History

The museum opened in 1964, founded as the first open air museum in Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

. Key events in the museum's history are:

• 1963 Foundation of the museum and beginning of restoration of Vogtsbauernhof farmstead
• 1964 Opening of Vogtsbauernhof farmstead and its outbuildings
• 1966 Opening of Hippenseppenhof farmstead and its outbuildings
• 1972 Opening of Lorenzenhof farmstead
• 1980 Opening of Hotzenwald farmstead
• 1982 Opening of Schauinsland farmstead
• 1996 Museum is transferred into an enterprise
• 1999 Opening of Falkenhof farmstead
• 2002 Opening of Day labourer's Cottage "Wirtstonis"

Visiting

The museum is open daily from the end of March until early November. It claims to be the most visited open-air museum in Germany and one of the most visited throughout Europe, with more than 250,000 visitors a year. Since its opening, the museum has attracted over 13.5 million visitors.