Hesse Brickworks Museum

The museum opened at the former Oberkaufungen brickworks in 2006. It was developed by a voluntary association with support from the local authorities. The works produced bricks, roof tiles and fine architectural ceramics until 1982. The first brickworks of 1870 was rebuilt in 1898 with a four-storey drying house 70m long (later extended to 98m but reduced in height after a fire). At this time it employed 100 people. The museum is housed in a fine group of buildings with round-headed cast-iron windows and a tall chimney at the centre. The visitors' route leads up a ramp for trolleys with clay to enter the building, to a grinder that pressed the clay through sieves and then to the press and cutter. These are followed by drying areas and the labyrinth of the zig-zag continuous kiln used for firing. Finally, the products were sorted and loaded directly onto rail wagons in the yard.