Special exhibitions

2019: The Oder – a river with many faces

‘The Oder is like an encyclopaedia. Between Moravian Gate and Oderhaff, you can see almost everything that Central Europe has to offer.’

Karl Schlögel (1997)

200 years ago, on 7 July 1819, members of the Oder Touring Commission signed a protocol setting out the principles for the work to be carried out to regulate the river. This date prompted the Elbe/Oder Chamber Union (KEO), in cooperation with the East Brandenburg Chamber of Industry and Commerce, to declare 2019 the ‘Year of the Oder’. We have taken the Year of the Oder as an opportunity to expand our exhibition in the open-air area.

2017: The RIESA – ‘the old lady of Oderberg’

The RIESA is not only the largest and most special exhibit at the Oderberg Inland Waterways Museum, the historic Elbe side-wheel steamer has also become an established part of the cityscape. 

The exciting and unique history of this particular ship is an outstanding addition to a technology museum such as ours. The RIESA (formerly HABSBURG) is a special feature of the White Fleet Dresden and, in particular, 

as the venue for the so-called Kaiserfahrt (Emperor's Cruise). In 1901, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary sailed along the Elbe on the former HABSBURG and even rewarded the general director of the Saxon-Bohemian Steamship Company, Ernst Kuchenbuch, with a knighthood.

In 2017, the RIESA celebrated its 120th birthday. 

The Förderverein Binnenschifffahrts-Museum Oderberg e.V. (Oderberg Inland Waterways Museum Association) wanted to use this occasion to highlight the cultural and historical significance of the ‘old lady of Oderberg’.

The renovation of the stern saloon finally created space to redesign the museum presentation of the RIESA.

The association's goal is to do justice to the lively history of the RIESA with this new concept. Accordingly, a new permanent exhibition has been developed on the ship to make the experience of visitors to this historic paddle steamer more tangible.

2016: The Oderberg Shipyard

The Oderberg Shipyard can look back on a long history: starting out as a barge builder at the end of the 19th century, it eventually developed into one of the most important sources of employment and economic growth in the region in the 1920s. Even after the Second World War, things continued to be turbulent:

first as a repair shipyard as a state-owned enterprise of the Soviet Union, then as the founding of the state-owned Oderberg Shipyard (VEB SWO) in the shipbuilding combine. After reunification, a few entrepreneurs attempted to rescue the shipyard under the new economic conditions;

However, after a brief ‘heyday’ as the city's largest employer, the final curtain fell on the long-established company in November 2015.

The Oderberg Inland Waterways Museum is taking this development as an opportunity to take a closer look at the history of the shipyard – in the form of a new special exhibition. The aim is to show the people of Oderberg and visitors to the museum the interesting and eventful history of a company that shaped the working lives and leisure time of countless employees in the city for decades. In addition to the historical development, the exhibition also focuses on the different production priorities over time.

2015: The Finow Canal – Identity and Shipping

The Finow Canal has been on everyone's lips in recent years. The Lange Trödel was opened in 2016,

and a wide variety of initiatives and associations are working to preserve and expand Germany's oldest navigable artificial waterway. Politicians also seem to be gradually setting the course for this.

For this reason, cultural institutions also made efforts in 2015 to consolidate the long-term importance of the Finow Canal as a monument that shapes the identity of an entire region. The Oderberg Inland Waterways Museum was just one of the many players committed to this project. In addition to the turbulent history of the canal, our exhibition focused primarily on shipping and the locks of the Finow Canal. Two rooms on the ground floor of the museum building still offer a comprehensive insight into the anecdotal and exciting history of this important waterway in Brandenburg.

Information about the special exhibition: As Germany's oldest navigable artificial waterway, the Finow Canal 

is not only a worthwhile destination for water travellers, but also has a cultural and historical dimension and helps to shape the identity of an entire region. In 2015, you could experience this special feature in three museums along this historic waterway: the Liebenwalde Local History Museum, the Eberswalde Regional Museum and our Oderberg Inland Waterways Museum. We also offer you an insight into the core function of a waterway: shipping. In addition to explanations of typical canal locks and ship types, you can also discover the development of various types of propulsion in the history of the Finow Canal – from traditional towage of ships by muscle power and steam tugs to the exotic ‘Uhle’, the only cable steamer on the waterways of the Mark Brandenburg.

2014: 60 years – from local history museum to museum of a special kind

2014 was a special year for the museum: its 60th anniversary was celebrated together with many guests. For a former local history museum, this is a long time, during which much has changed, but the location has always remained the same. It all began with the museum's founder, Hermann Seidel, a teacher and amateur archaeologist from Oderberg, after whom the street is now named. After numerous finds from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, he was keen for the people of Oderberg to discover what their town had to offer. 

Over time – especially in the 1970s under the then museum director Günther Hoffmann – the museum's collection grew and it developed into Brandenburg's only inland waterway museum. In 1979, the showpiece of the exhibition arrived in Oderberg: the historic Elbe side-wheel steamboat RIESA from 1897, which Günther Hoffmann saved from being scrapped. A lot has happened since then: the Förderverein Binnenschifffahrts-Museum Oderberg e.V. (Oderberg Inland Waterways Museum Association) is now responsible for the museum's ongoing operation and keeps it open to visitors every day.