The State museum Fortress Ehrenbreitstein offers permanent collections documenting important aspects of the region’s technological development and its economic and social history.

Museums and Collections in the Middle-Rhine Valley

There is a museum along the Middle-Rhine region for every taste. History, technology, archaeology, and fine art are all represented.

There are many opportunities to taste wine directly from the producers.

The photography museum offers permanent collections documenting important aspects of the region’s technological development and its economic and social history. – © Ulrich Pfeuffer / Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe Rheinland-Pfalz

The museums in the Middle-Rhine region possess a rich and varied collection of interesting exhibits. The number of inspiring venues is huge, and usually interdisciplinary—sometimes there is a special focus of attention. Almost all of the collections are located in beautifully restored historical buildings.

Archaeology in the Middle-Rhine Valley

The most important exhibition was opened by the state museum in Koblenz in the Ehrenbreitstein fortress under the auspices of the local ancient-monuments protection agency. But there are also many other museums with archaeological highlights: the "Historische Museum am Strom" (the Historical Museum on the River) in Bingen exhibits a set of surgical instruments, the biggest find of Roman medical implements in the world. There are important findings from early days to the Middle Ages in the new town museum in Boppard, the Middle-Rhine and Rhine museums in Koblenz, as well as many of the collections in the castles that can be admired.

Historical Collections

The Middle-Rhine Museum in Koblenz offers the most comprehensive exhibition of paintings and sculptures from the region. The collection focuses on Rhine Romanticism of the 19th century and 20th century depictions of the Rhine. The small, local museum for art and local history in Lorch also shows unique examples of religious art in the region. The “Museum on the River” in Bingen contains valuable originals and large slides of the well-known codices of St. Hildegard as well as an important collection of Rhine-Romanticism graphics. Modern art can be found in the Ludwig Museum in Koblenz. Historical toys, such as dolls, are in St. Goar.

Technology and History

The state museum in Koblenz has arranged an interesting collection stretching beyond the region in the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. Among other things, the permanent departments show the history of the fortress building and the economic history of Koblenz and the surrounding region. Important designers in Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland Palatinate) of historical musical instruments from the 18th century to the present day—with 367 exhibits on view in Siegfried's mechanical music cabinet in Rüdesheim.

Rhine Romanticism

Several castles reflect the architecture, the interiors, and tastes of this period. The Middle-Rhine Museum in Koblenz and the Historical Museum on the River in Bingen show romantic views of the Rhine, in keeping with the atmosphere of the castles high above the river banks.

Military Paraphernalia

You can see in the German armed forces' armaments museum in Koblenz and in the Blücher Museum in Kaub. The furnishing of this historical building is unique. Artistic oil-paintings-on-canvas wall coverings, wallpaper in the empirical style, chairs from 1753, a beautiful tiled oven, and bourgeois furniture—from the Victorian era—all give the impression that Marshall Blücher has only just left Kaub.

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