Salzlandmuseum

The Salzlandmuseum stands in the spa quarter of Bad Salzelmen, a district of Schönebeck on the Elbe. It occupies the former town hall of Groß Salze, a building whose southern wing dates from before 1400 and whose northern wing was added in 1536. The 18th-century alterations gave it a stepped gable, a portal with the Siedekorb emblem, and a two-storey timber-framed tower topped by a 1428 bell. The museum was founded in 1924 by a local history society led by headmaster Albert Mennung and merchant Wolfgang Wanckel, with early support from Wilhelm Schulze. The museum’s permanent displays focus on salt-working and inland navigation on the Elbe and Saale. A separate room is devoted to the reconstructed Ringheiligtum Pömmelte, a Bronze-Age circular sanctuary. Two further rooms host changing special exhibitions, and a multimedia room supports educational programmes. The building also contains a gallery dedicated to paintings by Katharina and Annemarie Heise and graphics by Werner Tübke. Visitors enter through the historic portal and climb the tower to see the old clock bell. The salt room shows tools and artefacts from the Pfänner tradition and the nearby Gradierwerk. The shipping gallery displays models, a ship’s cabin and a steering wheel. Outside, the Johanniskirche and the Gradierwerk are only a few metres away, linking the museum to the spa town’s character.