Kreismuseum Herzogtum Lauenburg

The District Museum in Ratzeburg is a regional museum wonderfully located above Lake Domsee in a manor house built in 1766 for Adolph Friedrich IV of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The museum features a kitchen from 1766, a 19th-century pharmacy, fire pumps, Biedermeier-style rooms, a complete photography studio, a collection of telephones and mechanical musical instruments, exhibits on the history of the Dukes of Lauenburg, and the German-German border, including an original “Trabi” (with slideshow), antique toys, and an exhibition titled “The Spirit of the 1950s.”

The centerpiece of the house is the magnificent Rococo Hall with stucco work by Johann Nepomuk Metz from 1766. An outbuilding houses a historic shoemaker’s workshop, a wheelwright’s shop, and an informative presentation “From Flax to Laundry.”

A film about the exhibition can be viewed [here].

Since January 2025, the manor house is closed for renovation.

In the outbuildings, the exhibition on agriculture and craftsmanship is open only on weekends, while the presentation “The Spirit of the 1950s”, the A. Hannig photography studio, and the historic pharmacy are regularly accessible from Tuesday to Sunday.