Deutsches Knopfmuseum

The German Button Museum stands in Bärnau, a small town in the Upper Palatinate region of Bavaria. It occupies a former communal brewery building on Tachauer Street, opened in 1998 after moving from an earlier location. The museum displays buttons from four centuries made of 26 different materials, alongside the machines that produced them. Special attention is given to pearl buttons and their processing. The collection grew from an initial 6,000 pieces to half a million within a few years. The museum’s history began with Rudolf Jäpel’s private collection, which the town saved from relocation in 1975. Marcel Hermann, former head of the Button Trade School and IKNOFA, reorganised the collection and founded the museum in 1983. By 1988 the holdings had reached 2.5 million buttons, and the museum welcomed 16,000 visitors by 1987. The move to the renovated brewery allowed modernisation and new thematic exhibitions on button materials from 1985 onwards. Visitors find two floors of displays showing buttons, tools and production methods. The ground floor focuses on pearl buttons and their craft, while the upper floor covers other materials and machinery. The building itself, once a brewery, adds industrial character to the visit. Outside, Bärnau’s quiet streets recall the town’s button-making past. The museum belongs to the twelve-museum network in Tirschenreuth district.