Museum Festival 100 Years Emschertal Museum

100 Years Emschertal Museum — An Anniversary with Style

The Emschertal Museum has been the central cultural history collection of the city of Herne in the northern Ruhr area since 1926. For its 100th anniversary, the museum invites you to Schlosspark Strünkede on Sunday, September 13, 2026 — for a family festival with music, hands-on activities, refreshments, and a first look at the major anniversary exhibition. Admission is free.

Schloss Strünkede — Moated Castle in Green Surroundings

The venue is the Schloss Strünkede moated castle with its extensive park, located at Karl-Brandt-Weg 5, 44629 Herne. The late medieval complex with its moat, castle chapel, and knight's hall has housed the city's cultural history collection since the museum's founding — from prehistory and early history through the Middle Ages to the industrial history of the Emschertal valley.

Music, Participation, Waffles

The program is family-oriented: live music in the park, hands-on activities for children and young people (crafts, museum education stations, historical games), culinary offerings with homemade waffles, coffee, and drinks. Several stations around Schloss Strünkede invite visitors to linger.

Preview of the Anniversary Exhibition

The museum festival offers the first preview of the major special exhibition on the museum's history, which will open in the main building in November 2026. A hundred years of collecting, researching, and communicating — the exhibition showcases key objects, photographs, and contemporary documents from a century of museum work between the Emscher and Ruhr rivers.

Strünkeder Sommer 2026 — Grand Finale

The museum festival is the highlight and conclusion of the Strünkeder Sommer 2026, a five-month cultural program in the palace park featuring theater, open-air cinema, concerts, and festivals. The organizers are the Emschertal Museum and the City of Herne.

Herne — City in the Northern Ruhr Area

Herne is an independent city in the northern Ruhr area, nestled between Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, and Recklinghausen. With around 156,000 inhabitants, Herne is manageable but significant in terms of industrial history — mining, steel, and chemicals shaped the Wanne-Eickel district. The Emschertal Museum documents this history at two locations: Schloss Strünkede and the Heimatmuseum Unser Fritz.