Stadt Telgte

The museum RELiGIO shows the religiousness of the Westphalian people from the first testimonies of faith up to religious diversity.

The round tour leads from the religious variety of the present, and the family celebrations to the annual religious ceremonies.
The most beautiful nativity scenes from the museum collection are on display here. As a historically grown faith landscape, Westphalia proves itself as a particularly varied region. With its marked guiding exhibits, the exposition tells the story of the different religious lives in the Catholic and Protestant regions of Westphalia over the past centuries. The exhibitions concerning the Telgte pilgrimage and the work of the Bishop and later Cardinal Clemens August von Galen group around the tree of knowledge. The highlight of the exhibition is the view of the enormous Telgte Hungertuch (Lenten veil) of 1623, which is effectively placed in the limelight in a new addition to the museum. The museum focuses on people. What do people need religion for? What rituals do they practise? What ceremonies do they celebrate? And for what reason? To what extent has religious culture changed in our country? What are the differences between Christianity and other people’s religions living in Westphalia, too? What do we share, what is different? The RELíGIO museum aims at providing an introduction into the world of religion and faith and at encouraging intensive discussions. Objects, reports of contemporay witnesses, interviews and interactive media provide various types of access to this highly topical social subject. As a historically grown faith landscape, Westphalia proves itself as a particularly varied region™ How suitable for a place of pilgrimage - a museum dealing with the people’s faith! RELíGIO - Westfälisches Museum für religiöse Kultur has been the new name of the former Heimathaus Münsterland and the
Krippenmuseum (Nativity Scene Museum) since the end of 2011.

The Telgte Hungertuch. The museum’s most important exhibit - the Lenten veil - dates back to the year 1623 and counts among the most precious cultural assets of Germany. The size of the veil is quite impressive with its dimensions of 7.40 m x 4.40 m. The veil is made up of 33 filet image squares. The upper four rows show scenes of the Passion. In the fifth row you can see the symbols of the Four Evangelists with the Lamb of God in their midst. The lowermost row shows scenes from the Old Testament. The text in the last image square says that the veil was embroidered in order to adorn the Telgte church in the year 1623.

The Telgte Search for Traces: Telgter Spurensuche

The paving stones are decorated with Telgte (young oak) symbols in order to draw visitors‘ attention to special places of interest.

The pilgrimage town of Telgte offers numerous facets. One of its gems is the old town with its historical market place, its meaningful sculptures and its formative buildings. Red paving stones mark a 2.5 km long circular walk - the so-called KulturSpur. It guides you to the classical attractions of Telgte, but also to more outlying locations of the old town where you can discover more than 30 meaningful places such as the Knickenberghaus or the “Mythological Well“.