Münster Travel Guide

The Museum of Natural History in Münster, which covers an area of approx. 4,000m², offers an insight into the world of stars, dinosaurs, Native Americans, mammoths, mammoth hunters and the history of mankind. Travel back in time to the Mesozoic era in the blink of an eye. Giant dinosaurs are on display, including the 16-metre-long skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex and the remains of dinosaurs that lived here 100 million years ago. In addition to important fossil finds, the museum also houses a number of impressive special exhibitions. The museum's planetarium takes visitors on a journey to the stars with a beautiful simulation of the night sky (separate admission).

Hours: Open Tuesday - Sunday 9am - 6pm.

Admission: Adults 3 €, Children 6-17 years 2 €, Children under 6 years free. Family ticket 8 €.

Since the founding of the museum in 1908, the atrium of the old building in the neo-Renaissance style is the aesthetic crown jewel of the house. The collections and special exhibitions of the Landesmuseum range widely, from medieval art to contemporary avant-garde. The Museum includes in its important historic collections of art from the early Middle Ages, medieval glass, baroque art, coin collections, and more.

Hours: Open Tuesday - Sunday 10am - 6pm, Thursday until 9pm.

Admission: Adults 2 € Children under 17 years free. Special exhibitions are an additional fee.

Over 3,300 animals and birds, including a walk-in aviary, white rhinoceros, elephants, African panorama, aquarium, and a freely accessible dolphinarium. There is also a Horse Museum, Hippomaxx.

Hours: Open daily from 9am; April - September until 6pm, October and March until 5pm, and November - February until 4pm.

Admission: Adults 12.50 €, Children and youths aged from 3 to 17 years 6.30 €, admission to the dolphinarium and the horse museum is extra.

To the west of Münster's Prinzipalmarkt, in the spacious Domplatz, is the Cathedral (Dom) of St Paul, the largest church in Westphalia. Built between 1225 and 1265, it is in a style transitional between Romanesque and Gothic. On the south side, in the porch (Paradies) of the west transept, are 13th C. figures of apostles and saints. Notable features of the interior, which is of impressive spatial effect, are the numerous tombs of bishops and canons (including Cardinal von Galen, d. 1946) and an astronomical clock (1540) on the wall of the choir. The chapterhouse has fine paneling. In the Domkammer are displayed a variety of objects from the diocese's thousand years of history.

The Leprosy Museum is located in Kinderhaus, just outside Münster. It is Germany's only museum documenting the history of the disease, how it is spread, and how it can be fought. Leprosy is one of the oldest and most horrendous afflictions known to man. With more than one million sufferers, mainly in Africa, Asia and Latin America, it remains a significant global health problem. The museum, itself a former leper house, is a window into the history of the disease in Münster. Alongside the exhibitions, you can see the workhouse, the provisor's house, the surrounding wall with hatch and the specially built Lazarus house, which contains stone sculptures of Lazarus, Gertrude of Nivelles (the patron saint of leprosy) and the Church of Saint Joseph. Only open on Sundays or by appointment, guided tours available.

The Museum of Lacquer Art was established by BASF Coatings AG in 1993. Housed in Münster's Gerling Villa, this unique collection boasts around 1,000 exhibits from more than two millennia, including works from East Asia, Europe and the Islamic World. The oldest items originate from China and Korea, where resin from the indigenous lacquer tree was used for decorative purposes as early as the 4th and 5th century BC. Later works on display include pieces from the 14th and 15th century AD. The museum also documents how the art form spread across the globe, with evidence provided by exhibits from 15th century Persia, which found their way to Europe via the Middle East.

Hours: • Tuesday 12 – 8pm, Wednesday - Sunday and on national holidays: 12 – 6pm.

Admission: Adults 3 €, Concession 2 €, Tuesdays are free for everyone.

With about 800 of Pablo Picasso's lithographs, the Münster museum has one of the largest collections of Picasso's graphic art in the world. Since it opened in the year 2000, the museum has expanded its unique collection to include many prominent additions, among them works by Marc Chagall, Georges Braque and Henri Matisse.

Hours: Tuesday - Friday 11am - 6pm. Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10am - 6pm.

Admission: Adults 6 €, Concessions 4 €.

The Prinzipalmarkt is the oldest shopping street in Münster and is the center of the Old City. The tall, narrow houses with their steep gables and arched arcades on massive columns were originally built by wealthy investors. Generations of merchants have established their businesses along this remarkable street since the late 12th century. Even during the Middle Ages, the arcades made shopping possible in any weather condition. Destroyed in a bombing raid in 1943, the houses along the Prinzipalmarkt were rebuilt in the old style reflecting the street's quaint, old architecture and historic atmosphere. The Gothic gables of the City Hall and the Renaissance façade of the Stadtweinhaus (City Wine House) are almost exactly as they were during medieval times.