Museum für dörfliche Alltagskultur

The museum for rural culture of everyday life, which is located in the district Rubenheim the community Gersheim, documented the living conditions of " little people " of the Saar - Palatinate- Lorraine rural population. The museum will highlight the everyday culture of the population between the Hunsrück and Lorraine with a focus on the Saarland.

Museum character

The museum was designed by the Rubenheimer qualified industrial engineer ( Dipl.Wirtsch.Ing. ) And folklorist Gunter Altenkirch and implemented gradually. He has established the Museum over the course of decades and guarantees the operation. Documented and will be shown the everyday life of the villagers of the 19th and 20th centuries, especially that of the lower social classes. They were at that time made ​​up of laborers, workers, peasants, craftsmen and vagrants, so the layers, called the "little people" in everyday language. About 50,000 objects Altenkirch had collected, 2,500 of which are shown in various exhibitions and several permanent exhibitions. The museum was opened in 1988.

The house

The museum, used in part as a dwelling house, belongs to the genre of the " Southwest German Einhauses ", which is characterized by the juxtaposition of stables and living quarters. The house was built in the first half of the 18th century as an agricultural estate, in later times it was used as a tavern. To use the house museum justice, Altenkirch built indoors at a large scale. In three floors of the former farmhouse, which has already received numerous awards, objects of everyday use are shown on an area of ​​250 m²: agricultural equipment, early plowing techniques, tissue processing, toilets and kitchen facilities as well as numerous other utensils of daily use. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the museum Subjects repeatedly shows related exhibitions ( " superstition and witchcraft in rural areas", " children's toys in the 19th century "). In the meantime, have already been presented 27 exhibitions (as of 2011 ).

Another significant collection houses the museum. On the basis of eyewitness interviews ( " Oral History "), which Altenkirch performing for decades, he is able to document the life history of over 10,000 Saarland interior and Saar countries and to develop their individual data in a 450,000 flashcards scoring file.