2014: 60 years - From local history museum to a museum of a very special kind

2014 was a special year for the museum when its 60th anniversary was celebrated in the company of a large number of guests. This is a long time for a former local history parlour like this one, where so much has changed apart from the location which has always remained the same.

It all started with the founder of the museum, the Oderberg teacher and hobby archaeologist Hermann Seidel - after whom the street is named today. After numerous finds from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, it was his concern that the people of Oderberg should discover what their town had to offer.
In the course of time - especially in the 1970s under the then museum director Günther Hoffmann - the museum's holdings grew and it developed into the only inland navigation museum in Brandenburg. Günther Hoffmann saved the 1897 historic Elbe side-wheel paddle steamer RIESA from being sent to the scrapyard, which has been the centre piece of the exhibition since its instalment in 1979.

A lot has happened since then: today a registered support foundation for the Inland Navigation Museum is responsible for the running of the museum which is open for visitors every day.

You can find more photos here.