Museum für Brandenburgische Kirchen- und Kulturgeschichte des Mittelalters

The Museum for Brandenburg’s Medieval Church and Cultural History stands in the old bishop’s residence on Burg Ziesar, a medieval castle in the Landkreis Potsdam-Mittelmark. The permanent display ‘Paths to the Heavenly City’ opened in 2005 inside the Palas, the bishops’ former living quarters. The site also includes a glass hall for events, the castle’s keep, a chapel dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, and space for changing special exhibitions.

The exhibition uses the castle itself as its main object, tracing its architecture and uses from the Middle Ages to today. Two themed routes guide visitors: one follows the castle’s construction history through 73 floor and wall exhibits, while the other explores the Christianisation of Brandenburg and the bishops’ dual secular and spiritual authority. Both strands meet in the Jerusalem Hall, whose medieval murals serve as both historical evidence and spiritual focus of the show.

Visitors walk through the Palas rooms, the keep, and the chapel, seeing original building fragments, wall paintings, and archaeological finds. The special exhibition wing regularly hosts new displays on knights, reformers, railways, and regional art. Research projects on the castle’s bishops, their households, and their liturgical sites feed fresh insights back into the displays.