Catherine T.
Yelp
Oh, Kriminalmuseum. I am honored to be your first English review.
To be honest, I was a bit bored in Rothenburg until I heard about the Kriminalmuseum. Let's just say I had a wicca phase in middle school and leave it at that. Does this museum compare to museums in all the major metropolitan cities with their well-curated art collections? Of course not. But for a smaller specialty museum, it did not disappoint. The woman working at the front desk was very friendly and after I paid for my ticket (be sure to get the student discount if you're a student) she directed me down the stairs.
Now, you're supposed to take a certain path through the museum as the layout is a bit odd. Things are confusing as heck if you lose track of the arrows that guide you around. There is a restroom on the first floor near the front desk where you purchase your ticket. I don't know if there are other restrooms somewhere in the building but it took me a hell of a long time to find my way back to use the restroom and then find my way back to where I had been and then work my way through the exhibit when I realized that I had to run to meet my tour group. Some entrances and exits are blocked off so you'll follow the intended path but since that winds through the museum I feel like this is a design flaw in case there's ever an emergency. There aren't really guards so I don't know who you'd alert if you were on the third floor and suddenly had a heart attack.
Anyway, the exhibits mostly consist of torture/shame devices and written materials. The torture and shame devices are quite disturbing, especially if you really think about them being used on someone. This makes the basement (which is kept dark) a bit creepy, though the plaques in the exhibits upstairs which help give context do not improve matters. Some of those devices just sent shivers up my spine. The plaques are either in German or English. I cannot read German but I found the English plaques to be mixed. Sometimes they were very informative and sometimes they just had the most basic information.
The written materials are varied. There are books opened to pages with colorful pictures. There are official documents. And there is quite a bit of information on witches. I would have loved to spend more time here and do some research for a novel.
There are also just some random items. There are numerous plaques depicting Justice in the stairway as well as pictures (presumably from books) of figures from medieval romances. There was a section on seals (insignia stamped into wax, not the animals) for no apparent reason.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit, and I only wish that I had had more time to fully explore the museum. If you're in Rothenburg, it's definitely worth a look and the entrance fee. I would say that the more interesting items are on the upper floors, so try and make your way through the basement and staircases a bit more quickly than I did. Also, try to not get lost.