Local history museums are dull? The Langbein Museum in Hirschhorn in southern Hesse shows that this doesn't have to be the case. Here, visitors follow in the footsteps of a passionate collector with an appreciation for the bizarre and the everyday. Through cabinets of curiosities packed with stories. About Hirschhorn and its people, about the flora and fauna of the region and a famous guest: Mark Twain.



Even the hallway shows: This is no ordinary local history museum. It glows a vibrant red. A creaky wooden staircase leads to the second floor of the former forester's lodge in Hirschhorn. The glass panels in the hallway display the exhibits that await visitors to the Langbein Museum. There are many. A great many. Lined up without any visible logic. Even the first room is initially a big mess.



Drawings, pictures and deer antlers hang in front of grass-green walls. Display cases show shells and tools, and a stuffed pheasant looks down from above. Aloisia Sauer, chairwoman of the museum association, smiles and also lets her gaze wander. "I've been a member of the museum association since 2018 and have been in these rooms countless times. But every time I discover something new." Only those who take the time to take a second look will recognize connections and, with each object in the room, get a more accurate picture of the person who collected it all. Carl Langbein, born in Hirschhorn in 1816, was an unusual person and a passionate collector. However, he did not weigh up the value of objects in terms of money. For him, a beautifully crafted trouser button could be just as valuable as a painting or a piece of furniture. As long as it had something to tell. About the craftsmanship of its maker, about the rarity of the material used, about the wearer of the item of clothing to which it was attached.



"A warm participant in all things beautiful and religious, art and science," is how he described himself in a letter. And Carl Langbein not only collected. He also drew, wrote poetry and played music, made furniture and taxidermied animals. "Today we would probably say he was highly gifted," Aloisia Sauer is certain. Carl Langbein was actually a bark merchant. "Like many people from Hirschhorn in his day," says Sauer. The small town on the Neckar, which is now known as the "Pearl of the Neckar Valley", was one of the largest transshipment points for oak bark at the time. Langbein traveled a lot, bringing back something from every journey and preserving what was in danger of being lost in his surroundings. In 1840, he acquired the "Darmstädter Hof", an inn with a hotel, which from then on was called "Zum Naturalisten" and soon resembled a natural history museum.



Langbein filled room after room, while his wife Maria and his sister Ida ran the actual business. The collection is an incredible treasure Aloisia Sauer Visitors learn this from Ida herself - via the audio guide that leads them through the exhibition. It is recorded from different perspectives. Either Langbein himself guides you through the museum - or his sister. Sometimes there are anecdotes from people from Hirschhorn, sometimes children talk about how they experience the museum and what they find particularly exciting. Mark Twain also appears as a narrator. He was probably the most famous hotel guest at the "Naturalist". In 1878, the writer was on a tour of the Neckar and ended up in Hirschhorn on a stormy rainy night. He recorded his visit, satirically exaggerated, in his work "Bummel durch Europa". In it, he also tells of a stuffed owl that barely let him sleep. It stared at him all night - "with the expression of someone who thinks he has seen me before but is not sure." The snow-white owl can be admired in the museum today - and still looks back in slight astonishment. It is an enormous legacy that Langbein left to the people of Hirschhorn. "The collection is an incredible treasure - but the big question was always: how do you display it?" How do you present the fragment of a vase next to a knight's armor? Fortunately, there was someone in the city who understood Langbein: Dr. Ulrich Spiegelberg. A pediatrician and passionate amateur historian.



He was chairman of the museum association for many years and worked with exhibition designer Jörg Werner to develop a framework for the museum. They wanted an exhibition that combined the bizarre and the everyday and drew on the concept of cabinets of curiosities. Each room in the museum has an overarching theme. "During guided tours, we often let the guests guess what the theme is," says Aloisia Sauer. This is when most people start looking for - and finding - links and connections between the exhibits. But often enough, small and large irritations remain, prompting people to ask questions. And that's exactly what you should do. For example, what does the elephant's ear have to do with stag horn? "It was tanned - with oak bark," explains Aloisia Sauer. And why is the antlerless stag hanging in the room with the religious objects? "It actually lived here in the woods around Hirschhorn. It was antlerless, but still led a herd - such stags are also called 'monks'." The museum is full of such irritations, surprising aha moments and humorous allusions. So it is no coincidence that the oil painting of Electress Elisabeth Auguste hangs crookedly on the wall... Some of the showcases in the exhibition are still empty.



These are small invitations to visitors to think for themselves about what else might fit in here. Because the collection is constantly growing and continues to preserve Hirschhorn's history(ies). Like the large wooden table that used to stand in the Carmelite monastery below the castle. Or the knight's armor and weapons, reminiscent of the great times of the Lords of Hirschhorn, who once owned the small village of Mannheim, among other things. Aloisia Sauer is still an enthusiastic visitor to the museum herself.



She grew up in Hirschhorn and returned to her home town in 2014. She actually only joined the museum association because it was desperately looking for a second chairwoman at the time and she finally gave in - when she was assured that she wouldn't have to do much more than attend from time to time. But she was infected by Spiegelberg's passion. And when he died unexpectedly in 2018, she took over the chairmanship. "He's still missing. There are big, huge footprints that he left behind," says Aloisia Sauer. She doesn't even try to fill them. "I simply don't have the historical expertise," she admits.



As a management consultant, she sees her job elsewhere: she wants to turn the museum into a museum for the people of Hirschhorn and attract even more visitors. "I don't think many people realize what a gem we have here." Langbein has even tried her hand at architecture, as the wooden model of a castle at the end of the exhibition shows. A utopian dream? "No, he even started building it," says Sauer. It was supposed to be a place for his collection. But his castle was never finished. When Langbein died, his sister Ida took care of his legacy. She ensured that the collection remained complete and eventually bequeathed it to the state of Hesse. Aloisia Sauer talks about other chests and boxes, an entire archive full of potential exhibits. "We are far from finished." She laughs. "I'm very excited to see what treasures and stories we'll discover." www.museum-hirschhorn.de The first floor of the museum houses the Hirschhorn tourist information office as well as rooms for temporary special exhibitions. The museum is currently open by appointment at the tourist information office on 06272/1742. Hirschhorn is easy to reach by S-Bahn from Heidelberg and is located on the "Kurpfalzachse" cycle route, one of three regional park routes through the region. More exciting news from the region at www.wosonst.eu