Every year in Christmas time Posterstein castle shows a part of the nativity scene collection. The collection started in 1994, when Jürgen P. Riewe and Carolin Riewe from Hannover donated their private collection to the museum. Since then, the museum has received further donations from private collections and collects itself.

The nativity scene collection of Museum Burg Posterstein shows the great variety of the presentation of the birth of Jesus Christ. Here you find Christmas cribs from Israel and colourful cribs from South America, wood cribs from Bavaria and such, made by traditional manufacturers in the German Erzgebirge. Czech and Austrian straw cribs stand side by side with African wood cribs and German tin cribs, some fit in a nutshell, others can’t be overseen.

Collection, library and archive

To be donated a whole collection is a stroke of luck for a museum. The Riewe collection includes about 340 cribs, a library and an archive with folkloristic information about the subject. A small book presents the most important exhibits and can be bought in the museum (in German language only).

Until his death in 2007 Jürgen P. Riewe opened the yearly exhibition of his collection himself, e.g. with short lectures on Christmas traditions.

In 2013 / 14 another Christmas crib collection from Hannover was be donated to the museum, that now has more than 500 cribs in its collection.

Further reading:

Book (In German language only): ‘Weihnachtskrippen‘, Sammlung Riewe
Museum Burg Posterstein, 1995
(Price: 2,50 € , plus costs for transport, order via info@burg-posterstein.de)

The collection of Museum Posterstein Castle