Station: [01] Welcome

Welcome to the Oldenburg Ring Fort Museum!

Together with Haithabu, the Oldenburg Ring Fort is one of the most significant archeological ground monuments in Schleswig-Holstein, dating back to the period of the Slav settlement, from the 8th to the 12th century, the so-called early Middle Ages. In the 1970s and 1980s excavations were made here and the finds are now exhibited in the museum.

The museum itself is located in buildings of a typical East Holstein farmyard area of the 18th century. The arrangement of the houses corresponds to a so-called Maierhof, an ancillary yard of the great East Holstein manors where dairy farming took place.

The historical buildings are all foundations donated from the area around Oldenburg, which have been restored here.

Only the building at the face side is a new construction. There you will find the museum cafe and, in the attic, the exhibition of the ‘St. Johannis Toten und Schützen Gilde’ (Guild of the Dead and Arrowmen) founded in 1192.

Along the exhibition barns and to the right of the museum café you will see a rose garden with a wide range of historical roses.

The exhibition barns exhibit excavation finds from the Oldenburg ring fort dating back to the period of Slavic settlement. The guided tour first leads you to the two exhibition barns, then on through the Slavic village with its harbor facility, and ends at the ring fort.

Please start your tour in the Dannauer Barn, the large exhibition barn to the left. You will find the entrance at the rear face side.
We hope you enjoy your discovery tour to the world of the Slavs in early medieval East Holstein.