Schwäbisches Handwerkermuseum

The Schwäbisches Handwerkermuseum stands in Augsburg’s lower Brunnenmeisterhaus, an 18th‑century building that once served the city’s waterworks. It sits within a historic group of monuments around the Rotes Tor, the Heilig‑Geist‑Spital, the waterworks and its towers. The house suffered heavy damage in the Second World War and decades of neglect before the Schwaben Chamber of Crafts restored it to its original form in the early 1980s. The museum opened in 1985 and has since welcomed about 25,000 visitors each year. Its 250‑square‑metre floor space is arranged over two levels. The permanent displays reconstruct workshops of once‑common trades such as barbers, saddlers, shoemakers, watchmakers, bakers, bookbinders and passementiers. Original fittings, tools and materials fill each workshop exactly as they were used centuries ago. A separate section presents the history of the guilds, with their coats of arms, foundation stones and chests. Nearly every exhibit was collected from towns and villages across Schwaben. Visitors walk through rooms where the scent of leather, wood shavings and flour still lingers. The clockmaker’s bench holds lathes and calipers left behind by Augsburg’s 18th‑century artisans. In the baker’s oven, loaves are occasionally baked for special events. The adjacent Kastenturm hosts smaller temporary exhibitions. Outside, the red‑brick water towers rise above the museum’s courtyard, linking past and present.