Museum Gingst

The Museum Gingst stands in the heart of Gingst, a village on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Its buildings date from the 18th century and once housed workers’ families. The complex includes a main house with a half-hipped roof, a small extension called the Utlucht, a cottage known as the Efeuhaus, and a former barn. All are timber-framed with thatched roofs and dormer windows shaped like bats’ wings.

The museum shows how islanders lived and worked around 1900. The main house recreates the living and working spaces of a shoemaker, tailor and seamstress. Upstairs a small collection of historic toys and a large display of thimbles can be seen. The Efeuhaus next door has been fitted out as a weaver’s workshop after restoration. Outside, visitors find a threshing machine, a milk float with its gear, a smithy from Berglase and the tools of wheelwrights and carpenters.

Paths lead through the sheltered courtyard past these exhibits. Through a neighbour’s window a reconstructed bakery can be glimpsed. The barn, built in 1796 by the wheelwright Krehmke, now serves as a café with a shop. After storm damage in 1995 it was repaired and fitted with a temporary roof before full restoration in 1999–2000.