Already in the founding years of the museum in the 1970s, there were plans for a building that would include the cash desk, an exhibition area, and group rooms. The main entrance was planned near the Paderborn village. For the transition, a ticket booth was set up at the Krummes Haus. Later, a shop and a container were added.

These temporary solutions remained in place for many years without another entrance situation being implemented. However, the need for an entrance and exhibition building remained. Following a feasibility study in 2018, an international architectural competition took place, which was won by the architectural firm ACMS from Wuppertal. The new entrance and exhibition building, with a usable area of 3,100 square metres, will for the first time offer the opportunity to present large special exhibitions and thus special depot treasures.

As early as 1975, there were initial plans for a separate exhibition building in the Detmold Open Air Museum. Since then, more and more historical buildings have been reconstructed on the museum grounds year after year, but the exhibition building was still awaited. Until now!

In October 2020, the construction of the new entrance and exhibition building was decided by the Landscape Committee of the Westphalia-Lippe Landscape Association. Construction has been underway since 2022.

The new entrance and exhibition building stands out for its particularly consistent concept of sustainability, taking a pioneering role in museum construction both nationally and internationally.

From October 2025, treasures from the museum’s collection of approximately 300,000 objects, as well as international loans, will be on display in large special exhibitions in the new premises.

You can get a taste of the new building today. Take a look at the explosion model or discover the rooms on a digital walk. In the construction diary, museum director Dr. Marie Luisa Allemeyer and the architects explain how far the construction has progressed.