Stadtmuseum Haus zum Löwen

In the historic centre of Neu-Isenburg, the Haus zum Löwen offers insights into the history, culture and economic development of the Huguenot refugee town founded in 1699.

The building stands on the northwestern corner of the original square town plan and marks the old road toward Frankfurt am Main. Originally designed as an inn, it was one of the settlement’s first establishments and was first recorded in 1702 as Au Lion d’Or (Zum goldenen Löwen). It served this function until 1918; afterwards the rooms were used, among other things, as emergency accommodation and as a communal kitchen. A small local history museum opened in 1958 as a predecessor of today’s city museum. Because of structural decay the house was demolished in 1976 and subsequently rebuilt true to the original. Between 2009 and 2011 it underwent a comprehensive redesign with an accessible entrance and a newly conceived exhibition. From 1981 to 2023 the Deutsche Äppelwoitheater was housed in the cellars dating from 1702.

The permanent exhibition extends over three floors from the ground floor to the attic. In the entrance area there is a reconstructed apple-wine cellar that provides space for tastings, lectures and encounters for oral history. A music hall documents the city’s musical tradition, its associations and personalities such as the tenor Franz Völker and the soprano Anny Schlemm. On the first floor key stages of Neu-Isenburg’s history are presented: the oath of allegiance of the 34 Huguenot families to Graf Johann Philipp von Isenburg und Büdingen, the development of the planned town and aspects of theological and religious life. Craft and commercial sectors — from Hasenhaarschneidereien and Portefeuiller to joineries and laundries — illustrate everyday life, social structures and economic developments; the local sausage-making tradition is also a subject. The top floor offers interactive stations for children and addresses space and spaceflight, including the career of Neu-Isenburg astronaut Thomas Reiter. In a senior and dementia project (“Museum vor Ort”) the Haus zum Löwen cooperates with care facilities by bringing selected objects into the homes and presenting them there to evoke memories.