Museum of local history Bergen-Enkheim

The Heimatmuseum Bergen-Enkheim sits in the old town hall of Bergen-Enkheim, a former town now part of Frankfurt. The building itself dates back to the 16th century and was once called Spilhus or Spielhaus. The museum moved here in 1959 and is run by a local history society with about 150 members and donors. The town hall’s slate-covered rear wall and stair tower mark the museum’s entrance, reached by five steps.

The museum holds objects that tell the story of Bergen-Enkheim from the Stone Age to the 19th century. In the cellar vaults, visitors see farm tools including cider-making equipment. The ground floor, once an open market and court hall, displays a model of the Spilhus with old photographs, a large diorama of the 1759 Battle of Bergen, and a 1671 sandstone coat of arms. Upstairs, glass cases hold coins, porcelain, weapons and the grave slab of a 17th-century official. A small diorama recalls the 1398 capture of the Schelmenburg by a Frankfurt-led force.

Outside the main building, the society runs a small monthly display in a nearby street to keep the collection alive during restoration. The exhibits include a 120,000-year-old hand axe found in 1961, Bronze Age jewellery, Roman pottery fragments and medieval weapons. The society also publishes a twelve-page magazine called spilhus several times a year, free in shops and at the museum.