One of the most informative places I have visited while in Bautzen is the Sorbisches Museum. The museum is located in the castle area, situated inside a former salt house. As it was about to rain, it was also good timing, so I decided to enter and spend a couple of hours learning about the Sorbian minority group.
The museum is the building on the right, as depicted in my photo above.
The exhibits touch practically every aspect of Sorbian life and culture. There were plenty of things to read, so I learned that there are actually two Sorbian minority groups, one that is centred around Bautzen, and another around Cottbus. One of them is Protestant, while the other is Catholic. I learned about assimilation efforts that the minority group has endured during previous regimes, as well as about their immigration patterns to the United States. Nowadays, their culture is more preserved and celebrated, and this museum tries to document them all.
As you can see in the photos above, the museum has many exhibits about Sorbian life, including their literature, household artifacts, and many others. There is even a large salon that is used for cultural events, and plenty of old books in Sorbian, written by authors whose names until then I didn't even know.
There is a section of the museum dedicated to Sorbian artwork, so there were several paintings and other art pieces produced along the years, up to the contemporary times.
Perhaps the area of the museum that I enjoyed the most is the costume exhibits. They have a large collection of ethnic costumes, documented per village. Different villagers have different costume styles, it seems, and they diligently document it in this museum, so you see how the people dressed depending on where they live. This was indeed an interesting section, and I spent some time comparing the different dresses.
Overall, I came out of this museum with a lot more knowledge than when I came in. I definitely recommend visiting this place if you want to learn more about one of Germany's cultural minorities.
