(Watch the accompanying video here.)
I love surpises. And museums. So a surprise museum is a gift, and a GOOD surprise museum is a jackpot! In all these respects, the Ausgrabungsstätte Steinrinne Bilzingsleben (website in German) is the cat’s pajamas. This “stone channel” archaeological site is tucked away in the village of Bilzingsleben in Thuringia, Germany, surrounded by fields of grain. On vacation there recently, I awoke with the farmers driving their tractors by the hotel at daybreak. Yes, rural! A museum was about the last thing I expected from this place. Or, to be honest, a GOOD museum was really the very last thing I expected. Thank you for proving me wrong, Bilzingsleben!
While the uninitiated like me wouldn’t know it, this village is actually famous in certain circles: palaentology circles, to be precise. Bilzingsleben’s fertile ground has yielded up three ancestral human bodies of a distinct type, thereafter named homo erectus bilzingslebenensis. You can read all about the site and its significance (in English) here. A professor at a nearby university made it his life’s work to excavate this area and turn it into a beautiful museum. Enough funding was rounded up to build the hallmark curved-roof construction, as well as install a fabulous display. The people working in the booth at the entrance were hugely knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and welcoming, and answered a lot of questions after my visit. (Plus they gave me a cool coin… watch my video to find out the story there!) This is quite clearly a labor of love for many people.
Inspired by the experience, I wanted to give you a look inside; so I made a mini-video about it once I got home. Enjoy! And consider making Bilzingsleben a stop on your next European adventure. (If your German isn’t great, be sure to engage a friendly tour guide or Google Translate for your visit.) The unique (and heartwarming!) experience here – combining the landscape, display, and friendly people – definitely makes my Top 5 list of favorite museum visits in Europe.
What’s on your list of Top 5 favorite museum visits? Let me know here in the comments, or via the Contact page – I’d love to hear from you!