After the Harvest — LVR Open-Air Museum Kommern

What Happened After the Harvest

"After the Harvest" is one of the most important themed weekends at the LVR Open-Air Museum Kommern. It doesn't show the romantic harvest itself, but the labor-intensive process *afterwards*: threshing, cleaning grain, processing flax, storing provisions. What was weeks of back-breaking work before industrialization is made visible on the museum grounds – with heavy horses, threshing machines, and visitors ready to participate. In 2026, the themed weekend will take place on September 19 and 20, from 11 AM to 6 PM each day.

Heavy Horses at Work

The centerpiece is the heavy horses: Rhenish-Westphalian heavy horses, Belgian draft horses, Luxembourgish heavy horses – almost extinct breeds, saved by dedicated breeders. At the museum, they perform tasks for which they were bred 100 years ago:

• Plowing – they pull heavy iron plows through stubble fields
• Hauling logs – wood from the forest to the farmstead
• Pulling harvest wagons – sheaves and grain from the field to the barn

Horse lovers could spend the whole day here. Demonstrations take place throughout the day, each with explanations from the demonstrators.

Steam Threshing Machine in Operation

A steam-powered threshing machine operates at the historic farmstead – an impressive sight. Harvest workers process the sheaves: straw is sorted out, grain falls through sieves, chaff is winnowed. This is how grain was processed from stalk to flour in the 19th century – with steam, mechanics, and many hands.

Hands-On Stations — Thresh Yourself

The museum offers more than just watching: visitors are invited to lend a hand themselves:

• Threshing with a flail – the ancient method, before the threshing machine
• Cleaning grain – sieving and winnowing
• Processing flax – breaking, retting, hackling. The fiber from the stalk.
• Making sauerkraut – cutting cabbage, salting, tamping

In addition, there are demonstrations of traditional crafts: blacksmithing, carpentry, basket weaving, textile work.

Large Country Market

Accompanying the program: a country market with regional products – honey, bread, cheese, sausage, fruit, jam. Farmers and direct marketers from the Eifel and Lower Rhine regions sell their produce, often with tastings. A kind of weekly market in a museum format, embedded in the harvest theme.

LVR Open-Air Museum Kommern

The LVR Open-Air Museum Kommern (official: Landschaftsverband Rheinland — Freilichtmuseum Kommern) is one of the largest open-air museums in Germany. On around 100 hectares in the southern Eifel region, over 70 historic buildings from the Rhineland have been rebuilt: farmhouses, mills, workshops, chapels, schools. Four "landscapes" – Eifel, Lower Rhine, Bergisches Land, Westerwald – showcase the regional diversity of Rhenish rural culture. The themed weekend "After the Harvest" uses this backdrop to vividly demonstrate agricultural practices.

Mechernich-Kommern in the Eifel

The museum is located in the Kommern district of the town of Mechernich, Euskirchen district, in the northern Eifel. Easily accessible via the A1 (Wißkirchen exit) or the B477. Can be combined with an Eifel day trip: Eifel National Park, Satzvey Castle, Bad Münstereifel are all nearby.