Brehm-Gedenkstätte Renthendorf

In the Thuringian town of Renthendorf, the Museum Brehm's World – Animals and People brings the life’s work of the naturalists Christian Ludwig Brehm and Alfred Edmund Brehm to visitors. The institution is housed in the family’s former residential and work buildings, which were erected in the mid-19th century (1864/65). Immediately next to the museum are the village church and the cemetery with the family graves.

The original memorial site was founded in 1946 by a family member and initially consisted of two memorial rooms. In 1952 the house came under municipal responsibility. In the following decades the institution underwent successive expansions, conceptual realignments and restorations. At the beginning of the 21st century financial problems led to a temporary closure; the reopening was made possible by a municipal association of several communities and by extensive construction work beginning in 2013. In August 2020 the museum was ceremonially reopened as Museum Brehm's World – Animals and People. In 2017 the Alfred Edmund and Christian Ludwig Brehm Foundation was established, which is intended to become the museum’s future operator.

The permanent exhibition, whose foundation dates back to the 1980s, presents the lives and work of the two researchers in the historic living rooms. On display are original furniture, everyday objects, letters, books, pictures and travel souvenirs, as well as original bird specimens prepared by Christian Ludwig Brehm and numerous other dermoplastic specimens. Visitors are led into the 19th century, while staged scenes featuring animals also prompt questions about contemporary research, species conservation, agriculture, animal husbandry and nutrition. Of particular value is the collection of autograph manuscripts of the Brehm family: over 2,000 handwritten items; specifically around 1,300 originals (about 700 by Alfred Edmund Brehm) and approximately 600 copies. The collection is complemented by the house and research library with roughly 13,000 volumes, about 300 photographs and individual expedition drawings.