For schools, the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg and its facilities offer guided tours and project days that are age-appropriate, action-oriented and related to the curriculum.
The diverse topics of the exhibitions and collection areas open up multiple connecting links to the Thuringian curriculum. The educational offers refer to the subjects:
- Local history and geography
- German
- Arts
- History
- Music
The program is aimed at elementary school, regular school and high school students. The program will be continuously expanded to include other subjects and other types of schools.
The extracurricular learning sites of the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg offer opportunities for vivid, action-oriented and explorative learning. The aim of the educational programs is to enable students to use the museum as a place of learning and experience to acquire information independently, to train their observational skills, and to promote their aesthetic knowledge and abilities through active creative engagement. Through encounters with original objects, they enable teachers and students to learn about Thuringian residential culture with a focus on the 17th and 18th centuries, Friedrich Fröbel's kindergarten, and the Paulinzella monastery ruins, and to gain insight into their significance for the formation of today's region.
Duration: 60 minutes
Elementary school, grades 1-4,
Subject local history and geography
How did the prince and princess, the children and servants live in the castle? Who had what duties and what did the daily routine of the princes and princesses look like? On a tour of the banqueting halls and living quarters, children gain an insight into the lives and daily routines of the former residents of Heidecksburg Castle. The focus is on the children of the princely family. The original furnishings of the rooms, paintings and objects make life around 280 years ago vivid and provide information about its former inhabitants.
Curriculum Reference:
Students can introduce a place, region or country in terms of places of interest, the background of festivals and customs in the context of wide-ranging traditions, economy and culture, features of its immediate surroundings and explain their significance for the region.
Goal setting:
- Arouse curiosity and a desire to discover the history of one's own city/region
- Getting to know the living conditions of people, especially children, of different social classes about 300 years ago, using the example of the Rudolstadt court in comparison to the present day
- Getting acquainted with the extracurricular place of learning Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg
- Stimulate close observation, exploration, and communicative exchange about what is seen
Elementary school, grades 3-4,
Subject local history and geography
Duration: approx. 2 hours (with practical part)
During a guided tour through the banqueting halls, the students learn about Heidecksburg Palace, its history and its former inhabitants, the family of the Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.
Practical part:
After the guided tour, the students independently explore selected objects in the museum. Using activity sheets and object texts, they explore exhibits from the history of art and culture in the south wing in small groups of no more than four students. After working for about 30 minutes, the students present their objects and their findings to their classmates in a joint, moderated tour.
Curriculum reference:
Students can introduce a place, region or country in terms of places of interest, the background of festivals and customs in the context of wide-ranging traditions, economy and culture, features of its immediate surroundings and explain their significance for the region.
Goal setting:
- Arouse curiosity and a desire to discover the history of one's own city/region
- Encourage close observation and independent research based on objective sources
- Promotion of communication and teamwork skills through group work
- Familiarize students with the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg as an extracurricular place of learning
- Getting to know the possibilities of information acquisition in museums
Elementary school, grades 3-4,
Subject local history and geography
Duration: approx. 2 hours
Why are there so many magnificent rooms at Heidecksburg Palace? What is court ceremonial and how were festivities held at the Rudolstadt court? During a discovery tour through the banqueting halls of Heidecksburg Palace, the students will gain an insight into courtly life in absolutism at the residence of the princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. They learn about the individual rooms and their different meanings in court ceremonial.
Practical part:
In the following practical part, either a dance (minuet) to baroque music or the fan language can be rehearsed on the basis of previously self-designed fans.
Corriculum reference:
Students can introduce a place, region or country in terms of places of interest, the background of festivals and customs in the context of wide-ranging traditions, economy and culture, features of its immediate surroundings, and explain their significance for the region.
Goal setting:
- Arouse curiosity and a desire to discover the history of one's own city/region
- Getting to know the court ceremonial and its meaning
- Understanding the design and arrangement of the ceremonial rooms as an expression of absolutist rule
- To vividly experience the social structure of the court by acting out individual elements of the ceremonial and rehearsing a dance
- Familiarization with the extracurricular place of learning Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg
Elementary school, grades 3-4,
Subject local history and geography
Duration: approx. 45 minutes guided tour and 45 minutes practical part
In 2010, the 300th anniversary of the invention of European porcelain was celebrated in Meissen, Saxony. Just 51 years after the Saxon discovery, Georg Heinrich Macheleid from Thuringia succeeded in unraveling the well-kept secret of porcelain production. His sovereign, Prince Johann Friedrich of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, was enthusiastic and allowed him to found a manufactory. Porcelain has been produced in Volkstedt since 1762 and in other manufactories in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt since 1832.
During a dialogical guided tour, the students will gain an insight into the porcelain fascination of the European rulers and their hunger for the »white gold« by means of the collection of East Asian porcelains in the Mirror Cabinet.
Practical part:
Afterwards, there will be an opportunity to paint porcelain blanks yourself in the museum's educational workshop.
Curriculum reference:
Materials: Students can describe the use of materials by humans, describe the processing of materials using a typical regional example, and name possible uses (e.g., slate, porcelain, glass, charcoal).
Pupils can introduce a place, a region or a country in terms of places of interest, the background of festivals and customs in the context of wide-ranging traditions, economy and culture, special features of its immediate surroundings and explain their significance for the region.
Goal setting:
- Arouse curiosity and a desire to discover the history of one's own city/region
- Recognize the tradition of the Thuringian porcelain production
- Familiarization with the extracurricular place of learning Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg
Elementary school, grades 3-4,
Subject local history and geography
Duration: 2 hours
In a short guided tour, the students will gain an insight into the significance and layout of Heidecksburg Palace and get to know its former inhabitants, the princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the court. Afterwards, the students will work in groups to explore various areas of the architecture and grounds, the castle garden, and selected objects, thus gaining an overview of the many functions of the palace building and the lives of its inhabitants. Each group receives an »explorer's sheet« and a site plan and explores the castle grounds independently. Finally, all the solutions of the individual groups are presented to the class on the site plan and combined to form a solution set in order to solve the last riddle together.
Curriculum reference:
Students can orientate themselves in space and work with plans and maps, i.e. understand the map as a reduced and simplified, two-dimensional and thematically ordered representation of reality, explain the meaning and content of the map legend, describe the use of the compass, determine major and minor cardinal directions.
Methodological competence: Students can estimate and compare distances, draw floor plans, develop spaces.
Goal setting:
- Arouse curiosity and a desire to discover the history of one's own city/region
- Getting to know Heidecksburg Palace, its layout and significance at the time of the princes and its current use as a museum
- Promotion of communication and teamwork skills through group work
- Apply and deepen the knowledge of orientation
- Familiarization with the extracurricular place of learning Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg
Regular school and high school, grades 5-6,
History subject
Duration: approx. 2 hours (with practical part)
During a guided tour through the festival halls, the students learn about Heidecksburg Palace, its history and its former inhabitants, the family of the Princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.
Practical part:
After the guided tour, the students independently explore selected objects in the museum and explore exhibits from the history of art and culture in small groups. After working for about 30 minutes, the students present their objects and their findings to their classmates in a joint, moderated tour.
Curriculum reference:
What is history? References to monuments, street and field names, castles, churches, legends, photos, fashion, chronicles, historical sources (selection): equipment, non-written and written material evidence.
Learning and working techniques:
Read historical factual texts under guidance and extract targeted information, describe objective sources and explain how they function, view and describe pictorial sources from a historical perspective, expand information on historical facts by visiting museums, exhibitions or libraries, for example.
Goal setting:
- Arouse curiosity and a desire to discover the history of one's own city/region
- Encourage close observation and independent research based on objective sources
- Promotion of communication and teamwork skills through group work
- Familiarize students with the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg as an extracurricular place of learning
- Getting to know the possibilities of information acquisition in museums
Regular school and high school, grades 5-6
Duration: approx. 2 hours
Why are there so many magnificent rooms at Heidecksburg Palace? What is court ceremonial and how were festivities held at the Rudolstadt court? On a discovery tour through the ceremonial rooms of Heidecksburg Palace, the students gain an insight into courtly life in absolutism at the residence of the princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. They learn about the individual rooms and their different meanings in court ceremonial.
Practical part:
In the following practical part either a dance (minuet) to baroque music or the fan language can be rehearsed on the basis of previously self-designed fans.
Goal setting:
- Awakening curiosity and a desire to discover the history of one's own city/region
- Getting to know the courtly ceremonial and its meaning
- To understand the design and arrangement of the ceremonial rooms as an expression of absolutist rule
- To vividly experience the social structure of the court by acting out individual elements of the ceremonial and rehearsing a dance
- Familiarization with the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg, an extracurricular place of learning
Regular school and high school, grade 6, subjects history and religion
Duration: approx. 60 minutes
Torah, Jad and Hoschana Rabba - How were ritual objects used in worship and what was Jewish life like in Rudolstadt?
One of the most valuable holdings in the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg is the Judaica collection, which comprises over 30 objects. The unique exhibits provide information about the life of the small Jewish community in Rudolstadt, which established a prayer room around 1796 as an equal religious community. The preserved Judaica inventory still shows that the interior of the synagogue room was splendidly furnished. Jewish families living in Rudolstadt donated precious Torah curtains, Torah coats, Torah pennants, lectern covers and books.
Curriculum reference:
Learning area: Introduction to the history of the home region
Subject competence: What is history? References to monuments, street and field names, castles, churches, legends, photos, fashion, chronicles, historical sources (selection): equipment, non-written and written factual evidence; expand information on historical facts by visiting e.g. museums, exhibitions or libraries.
Catholic Religion
Learning area: People interpret their lives and search for God
Factual competence: Describe the Jewish faith and the religious traditions of Judaism in broad outlines.
Protestant Religion
Learning Area: The Question of the Diversity of Religions
Subject-matter competence: The students can explain the meaning of important Jewish festivals, celebrations, rituals or symbols by means of an example, perceive manifestations and traces of Jewish life in Germany and in its immediate environment.
Goal setting:
- Gain insight into the religious practice and life of Rudolstadt residents of the Jewish faith in the 18th and 19th centuries
- Arouse curiosity and a desire to discover the history of one's own city/region
- Recognize museums as preservers of cultural heritage and mediums of information retrieval
Regular school and high school, grades 7-8, subjects history, music, art
Duration: This offer can be booked as a 2-hour event with one of the mentioned focal points or as a project day over the duration of 3 hours.
In a dialogical guided tour through the ceremonial rooms of Heidecksburg Palace, the students gain an insight into courtly life in absolutism at the residence of the princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. You will get to know the individual rooms and their different meanings in court ceremonial. The tour focuses on Prince Johann Friedrich as patron of the arts, builder of the Baroque palace and absolutist ruler.
Practical part:
(Selection of a focus or all topics in the group work phase of the project day).
Baroque art and architecture: By looking at historical building plans and the ceiling painting in the banquet hall, the students learn about typical features of Baroque and Rococo architecture and art.
Courtly etiquette: Based on an exemplary celebration of the birthday of Princess Berhardine Christine Sophie and the rehearsal of a baroque dance, the students deal with courtly ceremonial and its meaning.
Baroque and Rococo fashion: By analyzing the portraits of Prince Johann Friedrich and his wife Bernhardine Christine Sophie and the exemplary dressing of a schoolgirl, the students learn about the fashion and the ideal of beauty of the nobility in the 18th century.
Absolutist court and court life: With the help of a list of the court from 1771 and the painting of a silver scrubber, the students learn about the various offices at the court of the princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and their duties.
Curriculum reference:
Learning Area: Europe in the Age of Absolutism
Learning area: Dances
Learning Area: Shaped Environment Architecture
Goal setting:
- Arouse curiosity and a desire to discover the history of one's own town/region
- Get to know Prince Friedrich Anton and his son Johann Friedrich von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt as absolutist rulers over a small Thuringian state and builders of Baroque palace architecture
- Gain insight into Baroque palace architecture and art, the court state and court keeping, fashion as well as court ceremonial and its significance
- Understand the design and arrangement of the ceremonial rooms as an expression of absolutist rule
- To vividly experience the social structure of the court by acting out individual elements of the ceremonial and rehearsing a dance
Regular school and high school, grades 9-12
Duration: approx. 90 minutes
With this special offer, the students get to know the museum as a place of preservation and research of material cultural assets and have the opportunity to explore areas of the museum that are otherwise not open to the public. They get a glimpse of a specific exhibition area (to choose from: Festival Halls and Living Rooms, Natural History Museum, Rococo en Miniature), the different areas of responsibility and professions in the museum, and, depending on the focus, a workshop and a magazine.
Goal setting:
- Recognize the importance of the museum as a place for preserving and making accessible cultural heritage
- Professional orientation to the fields of activity in the museum sector