Rieckhuus

The Rieck-Haus is a farmhouse museum in Hamburg-Curslack, part of the Bergedorf museum group. It sits beside the Elbe dike in the Vierlande, a flat riverside region shaped by dikes and drainage in the 16th century. The core timber frame of the hall-house was raised around 1532, with later extensions recorded in 1545 and 1565. The farm stayed in one family for centuries, passing through the Timm and Rieck lines until the 20th century. By 1900 the buildings were decaying, but in 1940 the city took it over and began repairs. From 1954 it has operated as a museum showing pre-industrial farm life. The house still carries the carved names of Carsten and Catrina Timm from 1633, and its walls show patterned brick infill typical of wealthy Vierlande farms. A wooden windmill from Ochsenwerder, a bakehouse from Neuengamme, a hay barn from Allermöhe and a vegetable barge from Ochsenwerder-Neudorf have been moved onto the site. A farm garden planted in 1962 in traditional style completes the picture. Emil Evers, who lived in the house, led the restoration and later ran educational programmes for schools. Visitors walk past the hall-house, the brick-lined well and the outbuildings arranged around a cobbled yard. The windmill’s sails turn slowly beside the dike, and the bakehouse still carries the scent of rye bread on baking days. The hay barn’s open sides let breezes through, while the barge rests by the water’s edge. Interpretive signs and seasonal demonstrations explain how the farm worked for centuries before machines changed the land.