Worpswede Travel Guide

The village is situated at the Weyerberg, an elevation of all of 52 metres, and at the small river Hamme. In the past, the village was primarily surrounded by the "Teufelsmoor", but there only are a couple of moor areas left today, partly being conservation area. The area otherwise is very green and flat. A paradise for hikers, cyclists and canoeists.

After the divorce, the first wife of Heinrich Vogeler, Martha Schröder, lived in the Haus im Schluh. The two half-timbered houses house a museum with works of Heinrich Vogeler, a hand weaving mill and a pension.

This picture as well as the entrance picture were taken at Barkenhoff.

Heinrich Vogeler bought an old smallholder cottage croft and renovated it 1898 with Art Nouveau elements, e.g. he added gables and a garret roof. In 1908 he added the studio tower. People of artistic and social importance met there around the turn of the century, it represented the centre of the social life of the artist's colony. Vogeler changed the Barkenhoff into a children's home within the twenties. Children from strongly polluted industrial areas went on holidays there.

The park was changed into farming land. Inside the house Vogeler created political mural paintings, but they were painted over during the Third Reich. From those paintings, today there remain only some photos. And the mantelpiece inside is reminiscent of the red time of the Barkenhoff.

Today, both park and building have been restored again in the Art Nouveau style. The White Hall, in which readings and family concerts took place, is situated on the upper floor. The bedroom of the married couple Heinrich and Martha Vogeler is a true copy of the original. Moreover numerous design objects and pieces of furniture of Vogeler are on the upper floor. Changing exhibitions take place on the ground floor.