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All Germany Rothenburg ob der Tauber Medieval Crime Museum

Medieval Crime Museum

Horrifically creative torture devices and shame punishments line the walls of this chilling museum.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Added By
nessie619
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The shame masks.   Craige Moore/CC BY-ND 2.0
The shame masks.   Craige Moore/CC BY-ND 2.0
Cages used to imprison and dunk bakers for poor bread.   Flominator/CC BY-SA 3.0
The rack, used to stretch people’s bodies till they confessed.   Tracey Hind/CC BY-SA 2.0
Spiked confession chair.   Tracey Hind/CC BY-SA 2.0
The Iron Maiden, a hollow spiked structure inside humans were locked.  
  Tamz / Atlas Obscura User
Carriages with cages outside the museum.   JamazingClayton / Atlas Obscura User
Executioner’s robes on display in the museum.   JamazingClayton / Atlas Obscura User
A 15th century copy of the Malleus Maleficarum (‘Hammer of the Witches’) - the infamous medieval anti-witchcraft manual.   JamazingClayton / Atlas Obscura User
Antique torture manuals are on display at the museum.   JamazingClayton / Atlas Obscura User
The ‘Shame Flute’ - a cruel punishment doled out to bad musicians.   JamazingClayton / Atlas Obscura User
Branding irons, used to mark criminals for life.   JamazingClayton / Atlas Obscura User
Rothenburg   epfromer / Atlas Obscura User
  e1savage / Atlas Obscura User
Traditional Black Forest headpieces   kebbers / Atlas Obscura User
Traditional Black Forest headpieces   kebbers / Atlas Obscura User
A face mask made for gossipers and those who dare say anything blasphemous   kebbers / Atlas Obscura User
A recreation of the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire   kebbers / Atlas Obscura User
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About

In medieval Europe, sharing a juicy piece of gossip could earn the speaker a punishment of wearing a humiliation mask, created just for this crime. A similar fate awaited men who told lascivious jokes, and those who interfered in other people’s business.  

A physical equivalent of social media shaming several centuries before Facebook and Twitter, the masks were fashioned out of iron and had exaggerated features representing each specific social misconduct. The “gossip” mask has long ears and glasses, to hear and see and everything, and an even longer tongue to show that the wearer was likely to spread the information quickly and indiscreetly.

A number of these shame masks or schandmaske, intended to publicly humiliate the people perpetrating these acts, are on display at the Medieval Crime Museum in Rothenburg, Germany.

From social shaming tools to more physically torturous devices, the museum chronicles the brutal history of over 1,000 years of crime and punishment in Germany and other parts of Europe. The painful private collection curated by a German publisher in the late-19th century was first housed, quite appropriately, in the tower of a castle hotel, and it took on the shape of a more expansive museum under the guidance of an artist couple. It moved into its current location, a former administrative building, in 1977 and displays over 50,000 objects relating to law and order as it was enforced and structured in the medieval era and thereafter. 

During those grim times, professional misdemeanors, too, were not excused. For baking bread loaves that were too small or light, bakers were locked into a cage and dunked repeatedly into water and off-key musicians were spotlighted with a shame flute fastened around their necks.

An entire section is dedicated to the treatment of women, and to the terrible witch-hunt which took place in the Bavarian region in the 17th century. The beauty of the delicate carvings on a choke pear, a device with petal-like divisions, is swiftly overshadowed by its terrifying purpose—it was inserted into orifices of the human body, particularly for women, and slowly turned so that each leaf expanded, causing immense pressure, and the victim quickly admitted to his or her crime. More torture devices cruelly designed to extract confessions, true or false, from suspected criminals line the walls of this museum.

The more procedural aspects of the legal system in the form of documents and trade exhibits are also on display and but the overwhelming tone is gruesome and chilling. 

Related Tags

Museums And Collections Museums Torture Museums Torture Crime And Punishment Medieval

Know Before You Go

The museum is in the south-west corner of the historic city centre, not far from the main square (Marktplatz) and close to the Kobolzell Gate and Plönlein Tower entrances. The nearest of the town's peripheral car parks are by the Plönlein Tower. Rothenburg ob der Tauber train station, to the west of the town, is only 15 minutes' walk away.From April to October the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, and from November to March it's opening hours are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.The majority of exhibition pieces feature English and Chinese descriptions alongside German.

Community Contributors

Added By

nessie619

Edited By

e1savage, adventureluv, JamazingClayton, Kavya Ram Mohan...

  • e1savage
  • adventureluv
  • JamazingClayton
  • Kavya Ram Mohan
  • epfromer
  • Tamz
  • kebbers

Published

July 24, 2017

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Sources
  • http://www.live-like-a-german.com/points_of_interest/show/25/rothenburg-ob-der-tauber/the-medieval-crime-museum-kriminalmuseum
  • http://www.traveldarkly.com/medieval-crime-museum-rothenburg-germany/
  • http://sites.ashland.k12.ma.us/historywithw/home/medievalshame
  • https://www.thelocal.de/20140523/history-of-witch-hunts-in-germany
  • https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/torture-museums-in-europe
  • http://www.cvltnation.com/know-your-place-medieval-shame-masks/
Medieval Crime Museum
3 Burggasse
Rothenburg ob der Tauber
Germany
49.375602, 10.179159
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Germany

Places 2

Nearby Places

Ratstrinkstube Clock Tower

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

miles away

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miles away

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miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Germany

Places 2

Related Stories and Lists

These Masks Brought Shame to Gossips, Drunks, and Narcissists

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By Shoshi Parks

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