About us - MIK

The MIK

The MIK Museum Industriekultur Osnabrück is located in the heart of the beautiful UNESCO TERRA.vita Nature and Geopark on Osnabrück’s Piesberg, on the site of a former coal mine.

There is much to discover and experience on our extensive grounds with numerous listed buildings, both indoors and outdoors! In the immediate vicinity, the still active Piesberg quarry, which can be viewed from various circular trails, offers spectacular insights into the history of the Earth.

Nature and culture, history and the present meet here.

From coal mine to modern museum location

The museum area at the Piesberg has an eventful history: from a coal mine in the 19th century to a quarry and now a cultural meeting place.

The MIK spans two locations, which are connected underground by an accessible tunnel and a footpath along the old stone crusher. The museum is a living industrial monument within a natural landscape shaped by humans.

2025-05-27_V1

MIK Haseschachtgebaeude 2022 Foto Friso Gentsch klein 128f812a

industriemuseum Mit Helm und Lampe im Hasestollen4 Friso Gentsch scaled d942fcb5

MIK Dampfmaschine Foto MIK scaled eca2a383

MuseumIndustrieKultur 215 scaled 0230493c

Kleines Bild oben rechts Seite 14 Magazingeba%CC%88ude MIK Foto Kathrin Pohlmann 1 scaled 1 d59cef3f

MIK Dauerausstellung 1 Foto Maren Kiupel scaled 86e95540

PiesbergFoto Stadtwerke Osnabr%C3%BCck scaled 655b2eff

Bau der neuen Windenergieanlage auf dem Piesberg, Osnabrück. 2010

2025-05-27_V1

Themes at the Piesberg:
People – Nature – Economy

The unique location at Piesberg gives rise to the central themes of the MIK: the tension between people, nature and the economy is at the heart of our exhibitions and offerings.

Experience living industrial culture first-hand

Our interactive permanent exhibition tells the story of how the natural conditions in the region shaped the economy and how the economy in turn changed the landscape. Visitors experience this development not only through historical objects, but also through numerous interactive stations and a specially designed children’s trail that vividly conveys the life and work of people in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

You can feel the ground shake when our powerful steam engines are started up! And taking the glass lift down into the 30-metre-deep Hasestollen is an unforgettable experience!

Bergschmiede

Museum education

The Museum Industriekultur Osnabrück is a living museum. Laughing, playing and inquisitive children are all part of the experience here.

We welcome over 200 school classes every year, so there is always an air of excitement, curiosity and adventure about the place.

But it’s not just children and school classes who can find something to suit them here: young people and adults with a variety of interests can also benefit from our diverse, up-to-date and appealing educational programme.

To the offers for school classes & kindergartens

To the offers for groups

Sophisticated and contemporary education

Our goal is to communicate the themes, exhibition content and collection objects of the MIK in an exciting, interactive and contemporary way. Participation is very important to us, and we involve different stakeholders in projects. We also value dialogue with our visitors.

A museum for everyone

We see ourselves as an open museum for everyone. The MIK is a place of encounter and exchange, offering visitors the chance to engage with history, the present and the future.

Education and events for all generations

With our cross-generational education and events programme, we aim to inspire as many people as possible with industrial culture and the interactions between people, nature and the economy.

From kindergarten children to senior citizens’ groups

Whether for kindergarten children, school classes, youth groups or senior citizens’ groups, our guided tours, workshops and events are ideal. Our programmes range from geocaching on the Piesberg to scientific panel discussions.

Current topics and new formats

Alongside our special exhibitions, we regularly develop new programmes on contemporary issues. We welcome your suggestions and ideas for collaboration.

Experienced museum guides

Our museum guides have diverse professional backgrounds – for example, in art history, biology or engineering. Many of them have worked with us for many years, gaining extensive experience in dealing with different age groups and interests. They are happy to cater to individual requests.

Collections

The collections of the Museum Industriekultur Osnabrück form the central basis of our museum work. They comprise around 7,000 objects and some 9,000 photographs and document the changes in human living and working environments.

Objects as the key to understanding history

Viewing original objects enables a multidimensional examination of historical, technical and social issues. Museum objects appeal to all the senses: they are part of our history and at the same time shape our present-day world.
As a museum, we are committed to preserving, researching and communicating this material heritage as a repository of knowledge for today’s society and for future generations. Through exhibitions and educational programmes, we actively engage the collections in social discourse.

Origin and diversity of the collections

The museum’s collections have been continuously expanded since the late 1990s. Some of them are based on older holdings acquired from other institutions, private collectors and companies.

The collection covers a wide range of topics, including:

natural objects
technical devices and machines
everyday objects
works of art
photographs
archival materials and printed matter

The core of the collections consists of artefacts that illustrate the changes to human living and working environments in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The historic, listed buildings of the former Piesberg coal mine are also of particular importance. These are among the museum’s most important “collection objects”, and we ensure their long-term preservation and maintenance.

To our online collections

Sponsor

The Museum Industriekultur Osnabrück was established in 1994 as a municipal institution. In 1998, it was converted into an independent non-profit limited liability company (gGmbH).

The majority shareholder was and still is Sparkasse Osnabrück; since January 2024, the city of Osnabrück has also held a stake in the company. From the outset, 10 traditional companies from the region and two foundations have also held a 2 per cent stake in the gGmbH in order to facilitate networking with the local community.

The museum’s operations are financially secured by the Sparkasse Osnabrück Foundation, and the city of Osnabrück also supports the museum with annual funding. Special exhibitions and other projects also regularly receive support from other sponsors such as foundations and public institutions. Stadtwerke Osnabrück also supports the MIK through sponsorship.

At the end of 2023, the Osnabrück City Council unanimously decided to become a shareholder in the gGmbH, which operates the MIK. This ties in with the early days of the museum, when it was affiliated with the Osnabrück Cultural History Museum and thus under municipal sponsorship.

Sparkasse Osnabrück holds a 51% stake in Museum Industriekultur Osnabrück gGmbH, while the City of Osnabrück holds 25%. The remaining shares are distributed among Osnabrück-based companies, each of which holds a two percent stake.

The MIK

The MIK

2025-05-27_V1

Our locations and buildings

Haseschachtgebäude

Hasestollen

Historischer Pferdestall

Magazingebäude

Historische Kohlenwäsche

Bergschmiede

Museum education

Sophisticated and contemporary education

A museum for everyone

Education and events for all generations

From kindergarten children to senior citizens’ groups

Current topics and new formats

Experienced museum guides

Collections

Sponsor