Freilichtmuseum auf der Insel

The Freilichtmuseum auf der Insel stands on the Bleicher-Ravelin in Stade, a fortified earthwork built between 1692 and 1694. The island was once part of the city’s defences, where citizens bleached their linen on nearby meadows. In 1773 the philosopher Georg Christoph Lichtenberg set up a field observatory here to measure Stade’s position for a Hanoverian survey. By the 19th century the site housed a military bathhouse and later a riverside inn reached only by ferry. Plans for a museum began in 1903 and were realised after the city bought the island in 1909. The museum preserves buildings that tell the region’s history. The Altländer Haus is a 1733 marsh-farmer’s house with a richly decorated stepped gable of coloured bricks. A 1632 post mill from Rethmar and a 17th-century horse-powered winch stand among the exhibits. The Immenzaun, a traditional bee enclosure, and a stone baking oven from 1970 are also on view. The island’s centrepiece is the Inselhaus, rebuilt in 1994 after a fire with the façade of a 17th-century house from Himmelpforten. Visitors walk along tree-lined paths that cross the small island. The reconstructed Altländer Haus shows how marshland families once lived, with its large hall and sleeping chambers. The Bockwindmühle’s sails still turn on windy days, and the Göpelwerk’s wooden gears recall pre-industrial power. From the island’s bridges there are views over the river and the old town ramparts. Benches under lime trees offer places to rest while reading the cast-iron tablets that mark each building’s story.