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Medieval Crime Museum.Photo by User:Mattes.

 Top 10 Remarkable Facts about Medieval Crime museum

The Medieval Crime Museum is located in the southwest corner of the historic city center, not far from the main square and close to the Kobolzell Gate and Plönlein Tower entrances.

It is a one-of-a-kind Museum that serves to collect and store medieval to early civilization law and order artifacts.

The museum also aims to educate visitors on the European-German forms and methods of judicial law.

It comprises a one-of-a-kind torture chamber and incredible 50,000 exhibits.

Here are 10 remarkable facts about the Medieval Crime Museum:

1. The collection was started as a small private collection by Karl Albrecht

Karl Albrecht was a German entrepreneur recognized for the discount supermarket chain Aldi with his brother Theo.

He was also a publisher and activist who enjoyed collections of various forms, including the Medieval Crime Museum.

He started the small private collection at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The collection was housed in the Rothenburg Torture Chamber.

The chamber was based on the world-famous Nuremberg torture chamber exhibition by G.F. Geuder. Ernst Paul Hinckeldey and Marta Hinckeldey-Wittke took over and extended the collection taking on the shape of a more expansive museum under their guidance.

2. The Medieval Crime Museum comprises about 50,000 exhibits

Exhibits in the Medieval Crime Museum.Photo by Torsten Maue.

 The Medieval Crime Museum is unlike any other in Germany. It comprises the most informative collections from over 1000 years of German and European legal history.

It is the most popular law and crime museum in Europe and Germany that covers in-depth legal and judicial forms.

It ranges from medieval to the early civilization’s forms of justice law and order housing about 50,000 exhibits and a vast collection of punishment devices and torture chambers.  

3. The museum has had numerous owners

During the period of secularization which is a cultural transition in which religious values are gradually replaced with nonreligious values, the building transferred its ownership to the Bavarian Electorate.

This was during the 19th century when the museum was under Royal Bavarian District Authority.

In 1919, the building ownership was transferred to the administration in the District of Rothenburg which expanded the collection.

In 1972 the house was no longer an administrative building because of the rural district reform and dissolution and was bought by the founder’s family.

In 1977 After extensive restoration and conversion work it was moved to a foundation under public law with its seat in Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Finally, Dr. Markus Hirte, LL.M. has been head of the Medieval Crime Museum since June 2013.

4. It is Europe’s largest Museum on legal rights

The Medieval Crime and Justice Museum is Europe’s Largest museum on legal rights located in Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

This is a German town in northern Bavaria known for its medieval architecture with town walls that include preserved gatehouses and towers.

There is also a covered walkway on top. St. Jakob’s Church houses an intricate late Gothic altarpiece by woodcarver Tilman Riemenschneider.

The museum is a one-of-a-kind highly informative judicial and legal rights museum with a torture museum, imperial replicas, and torture devices through the centuries.

5. The Museum houses a collection of torture devices used in the medieval times

Torture Chair in the Museum. Photo by User:Mattes.

The museum has a collection of shame masks and the original racks, thumbscrews, and other torture devices in the museum’s cellar.

Behind the gateway is the cage of the legendary baker’s baptism. This device was used if a baker was cheating with the ingredients, this would immerse him in water.

There are also interrogation logs from witch trials and legal texts from past times.

In addition, the iron maiden from Nuremberg is a legend in the literary world, the executioner’s swords and the shame masks attract visitors.

The shame masks addressed the honor of the punished person. For liars or swindlers, there were masks with different motifs made of metal that had to be worn on the head.

6. The museum has a torture chamber

Torture Chamber in the Museum . Photo byTorsten Maue.

A torture chamber is a room where torture is inflicted. The medieval torture chamber was windowless and often built underground designed to be lit by a few candles to induce horror, dread, and despair.

It was created for everyone, especially those possessing a strong mind and nerves of steel. The torture vault contains torture instruments from the dark ages.

There is a rack, torture chair with nails, and thumbscrews among others. The museum however only showcases these for informational purposes.

It doesn’t play with shock effects or glorify war or violence, instead, it fulfills its claim to provide information as a museum on justice and legal rights

7. The museum also harbors replicas of the imperial treasures

Imperial Replicas at the Medieval Museum.Photo by Torsten Maue.

The museum also houses replicas of the imperial treasures.  the Medieval Crime and Justice Museum examines the legal conditions between the states or within the empires.

The museum examines how the Holy Roman Empire works with the emperor in the German nation.

Their principles from that era are still effective today and the numerous informative plaques.

The third floor of the permanent exhibit showcases the replicas of the imperial treasures made of high-quality materials.

The imperial crown, scepter, and apple represent the three most important imperial insignia of the emperor

8. There are original documents, seals and law books from the 13th century

The medieval criminal museum harbors interrogation logs from witch trials and legal texts from past time.

The museum also contains original documents from the 13th-century processes and procedures.

In addition, there are seals used by officials to imperial seals used by the European government. The museum has a record of the law book used in the European and German countries through the centuries till date.

9. The Museum is located in the former St. John’s Commandery 

The St. John’s commandery was a medieval chapel that belonged to the Knights of St John Hospitaller located in Burggasse, Rothenburg.

It was built of flint which is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline massive hard dark quartz with striking timber roof and ornamental plaster ceiling during the 1393 to 1410-time period.

The Commandery served as a chapel and hall for a chapter of the chivalric order that was converted into a farm building during the 16th century.

The Medieval Museum was built at this site in 1977 near the St. John’s church and was converted into the baroque style in 1718 that marks the building’s architecture today.

10.  The Town of Rothenburg donated the neighboring St. John’s barn to the foundation

In 1993 the Museum and its collection was transferred to a foundation under public law with its seat in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Part of the Museums Infrastructure is the St. Johns barn that was donated by the Town of Rothenburg.

The St. John’s barn was originally built in 1890, destroyed by a cyclone and rebuilt quite a number of times. The barn was used or animals and storage but was donated to the foundation to be renovated in line with monument conservation guidelines.

The purpose of the foundation was to promote the pursuit of science and research that converted the barn to be used for exhibitions, conferences and cafeteria since 1997.