Kreismuseum Bitburg-Prüm

The Kreismuseum Bitburg-Prüm stands in the town of Bitburg, within the Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm in western Germany. Housed in a historic building that once served as a higher agricultural school, the museum occupies a structure designed in the late 19th century by royal architect Krone and local builder Peter Josef Julius Wolff. Its collections trace the everyday and cultural life of the Eifel region across centuries, from Roman times to the modern era. The museum holds more than twenty rooms filled with artefacts that reveal the region’s history. Visitors find displays on rural life in the 18th and 19th centuries, photographs of the Eifel from the past two hundred years, and tools from the iron industry dating back to the Middle Ages. A special focus is the work of local artist Mathieu Molitor, whose sculptures, paintings and prints are presented in detail. Archaeological finds from the Stone Age to the medieval period are also on view. A library offers further resources on regional history, including old issues of the Bitburger Zeitung from 1848 to 1942 and the papers of local figures such as architect Heinrich Hildebrand. Regular exhibitions explore themes like migration, Jewish life and post-war survival, often drawing on photographs and documents from the area’s past. The museum’s photographic collection includes glass plates, cameras and a preserved darkroom belonging to farmer Albert Theisen, providing a rare glimpse into early 20th-century rural photography.