From Neanderthals to emigrants

Museums in Germany: a prehistoric site, a battlefield and a port – here you can visit three extraordinary places.

02.08.2021

Human history as a family portrait in the Neanderthal Museum. © Neanderthal Museum

Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann near Düsseldorf

In 1856, Italian workers found the top of a skull and several bones in the Neanderthal valley. They belonged to a 42,000-year-old human, who was named Neanderthal after the site of the discovery. The Neanderthal Museum is quite close to the site. It shows the history of human evolution. Here you can explore it virtually.

Besucherin triff auf modellierten A visitor meets the model of a Neanderthal at the Neanderthal Museum.im Neanderthal-Museum. — A visitor meets the model of a Neanderthal at the Neanderthal Museum. © Neanderthal Museum

Homo erectus lived from 2 million years ago to about 110,000 years ago. © Neanderthal Museum

Neanderthals in the exhibition – they lived from 130,000 to 30,000 years ago. © picture alliance / dpa

'Lucy', an Australopithecus afarensis, lived 3.2 million years ago. © Neanderthal Museum

This is where the eponymous Neanderthal was found. © picture alliance / Horst Ossinger

The Neanderthal Museum. © Neanderthal Museum

Kalkriese Museum and Park near Osnabrück

Around 2,000 years ago, Germanic tribes destroyed three Roman legions at the Battle of Varus in the Teutoburg Forest. Today, the Kalkriese Museum stands in the middle of a museum park on the presumed site of the battlefield.

Lost 2000 years ago: replica of a Roman horseman's mask in the Kalkriese Museum. © VARUSSCHLACHT Herrmann Pentermann

'Roman Legionnaires' in the Museum Park. © VARUSSCHLACHT Heinz Hoppe

This is where Varus's legions were defeated. © VARUSSCHLACHT Axel Thiele

Legionary's armour in the year 9 AD. © VARUSSCHLACHT Herrmann Pentermann

The Kalkriese Museum: observation tower overlooking the battlefield. © VARUSSCHLACHT Christoph Püschner

German Emigration Centre, Bremerhaven

In the years up to 1890, more than 7 million people emigrated overseas from Germany via Bremerhaven alone, 90 percent of them to the USA. The Emigration Centre tells the story. Here you can find out if there are any records in Bremerhaven about your ancestors. A new building focuses on immigration to Germany.