Discover Guben: Cloth-making history and experiences along the Neisse

Guben combines textile and industrial history with a variety of ways to get to know the city. The cloth-making exhibition puts fabrics centre stage; it also features family-oriented exhibition elements, insights into anatomical preparation and places of remembrance. The cross-border park adds a connection across the Neisse to the picture. When looking for accommodation in Guben, you can start by considering which of these highlights you would like to shape your stay.

Discover cloth-making

The “History of Guben Cloth-makers” exhibition includes a complete collection of fabric samples from 1873 to 1990. Its broad timespan invites you to compare patterns from different decades. Guided tours for children are available; the exhibition also includes a museum trail with prizes to be won. Films on industrial culture are aimed at visitors of all ages. A photo and selfie corner featuring the mascot Kopsinchen rounds out the offer. Visitors can relax on a picnic lawn outside the exhibition.

A combination ticket for the exhibition also allows you to visit the Museum of the City and Industry. Before your visit, check with the museum for current visitor offers and information about the combination ticket. This lets you pair your visit to the cloth-making exhibition with a further look at the city’s and industry’s history.

Industrial culture and unique insights

The PLASTINARIUM in Guben is considered unique worldwide. Visitors can see how anatomical teaching specimens are made and watch preparators at work. Check the latest visitor information before your visit. The exhibitions on Guben’s industrial history are also particularly geared towards families. Exhibition elements engage sight, observation, hearing, touch, feel and smell, offering different ways to explore the topics.

Sprucker Mill is a former grain mill in Guben’s Altsprucke district, on the Schwarzes Fließ. Reichenbacher Zinne offers a different focus: this artificial, reddish-brown climbing rock is made of concrete slabs and has 17 climbing routes of varying difficulty. History, industry and exercise thus sit side by side as very different themes, without requiring you to limit yourself to just one way of exploring.

Places of remembrance and traces of the Saxon distance marker

Gravestones at Guben’s memorial square commemorate Soviet soldiers who fell in battle. Another memorial stone commemorates Otto Thiele and Franz Blümke, victims of the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch. A replica of the Saxon distance marker stands on the descent to Poetensteig. Dresden sculptor Ralf Börnerow created it for Workers’ Day in 1989. A fragment of the original Saxon distance marker is on the grounds of the Sprucker Mill local history museum. These sites and artefacts offer different starting points for a tour through Guben’s history.

A cross-border park

The cross-border park connects the western bank of the Neisse with Theatre Island on the Polish side and Koenig Park via a footbridge and cycle bridge. This adds another focus, geared towards getting around on foot or by bicycle, to the exhibitions and places of remembrance. When choosing your accommodation in Guben, it may help to focus on the offers that interest you most during your stay.

Explore Spree-Neisse beyond Guben

The wider Spree-Neisse destination has further distinctive landscape and cultural highlights to offer. The Spreewald is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a characteristic inland delta landscape. Its culinary specialities include pickled cucumbers in sour, spiced or mustard varieties, linseed oil with quark, yeast pancakes and Spreewald fish. Cyclists have another option in the Spree Cycle Route: it crosses the Spree-Neisse region for around 60 kilometres and runs mostly along paved river embankments.

The East German Rose Garden in Forst (Lausitz) also makes for a distinctive day out. The park covers 17 hectares, where visitors can admire tens of thousands of roses in almost 1,000 varieties. Those interested in regional culture can gain insights into the lives and traditions of the Sorbian/Wendish minority living in the region on the Sorbian Impressions tour. These themes add further perspectives on the wider Spree-Neisse destination to the impressions of Guben.

Discover more destinations: Peitz, Groß Schacksdorf-Simmersdorf, Kolkwitz, Tauer, Hornow-Wadelsdorf, Werben, Turnow-Preilack, Schmogrow-Fehrow

Back to the regional travel overview: Spree-Neisse.