Ditmarsium

The Ditmarsium is a local history museum in Burg, a town in the Dithmarschen district of Schleswig-Holstein. Housed in a former saddler’s workshop, the building itself dates back to 1845 and once belonged to the Bernhardt family, who practised the craft for four generations. In 1992 the community bought the property to preserve it and turn it into a museum of regional trades and crafts. A volunteer association restored the building and created displays that opened to the public in 2003. Since 2022 the museum has offered self-guided tours with videos, illuminated buttons and tablet explanations. The upper floor centres on the old Burg pharmacy, granted a royal privilege in 1839 by the future King Christian VIII of Denmark. The last pharmacist, Peter Sommer, collected historic equipment from the 19th century and rebuilt the shop exactly as it stood in his time. Nearby are a 1920s dentist’s surgery with a foot-powered drill and an 1888 clockmaker’s workshop by H.N. Nagel. The ground floor keeps the saddler’s bench and tools in their original place, alongside a colonial-goods shop and a shoemaker’s display. Visitors also find a newly arranged shipping section that traces coastal peat trade, coastal voyages and global container routes. Models, interactive maps and a short film explain the routes once vital to Burg’s economy. A recreated captain’s cabin and a small café complete the visit, while outside an apothecary garden grows the herbs once sold inside.