Freilichtmuseum Archäologisches Zentrum Hitzacker

Nov 7

Written By EXARC

Germany

Elbuferstraße 2-4, 29456 Hitzacker (Elbe), Germany

Member since: 2005

Focus area: Bronze Age

From the excavation...
The first archaeological excavations confirmed the suspicions. The floor plan of a typical longhouse that was more than 3,000 years old had been discovered - a discovery that caused a sensation in northern Germany at the time. However, the large-scale investigation had to wait for a while. In 1987, a total of 16 hectares south of the town of Hitzacker (Elbe) were placed under excavation protection. In this way, the threatened destruction of the site due to the expansion of the federal highway and the establishment of the Hitzacker Lake could just about be prevented. At the same time, this paved the way for large-scale archaeological excavations to be carried out.

… to the museum
The discovery of several floor plans of longhouses and numerous additional archaeological finds over the next few years confirmed that the site had been used by people for 4,000 years. This result was surprising and inspired us to come up with an unusual idea. In 1990 the starting signal was given for the Hitzacker Archaeological Centre, the first open-air museum in Germany dedicated exclusively to the Bronze Age.
In order to tangibly explain the house plans of the prehistoric settlement, which are hard to recognize even for experts, we have built three different longhouses as walk-in, life-size models. The construction was made possible with the help of experimental archeologists, craftsmen, structural engineers and architects. The entire museum grounds were landscaped with trees and plants that have been proven to be from the Bronze Age.

Focus:

• We have made the interrelationships between people and the environment one of our main topic.
• In our permanent exhibition we offer information about the local settlement history and the Bronze Age in general.