Guided Tours – See More, Understand More: Focusing on the Original!

What were Osianderplatz (the museum forecourt) and the Franziskaner’s concert hall used to be? How heavy is one of the cannonballs that once severely damaged the Franciscan monastery? How many gates does the city have?

Using a questionnaire, the children explore Villingen’s downtown area and the local history section of the Franziskaner Museum. Along the way, they learn fascinating and surprising facts about the city and its former residents. At the end, the children get to mint a coin modeled after a Villingen denarius.

Ages: 7 to 11 years
Duration: 90 minutes

Many people associate the Middle Ages with wars, epidemics, and hardship. But what was life like for children back then? This program aims to show that people enjoyed playing games in every era. It explores and explains the similarities and differences between medieval and modern games. We’ll also highlight the differences in the social roles of children back then compared to today. By comparing these with their own lives, participants can deepen their understanding of the Middle Ages.

If the weather is nice: games in the courtyard, such as tug-of-war, the egg race, and sack races.

Relation to the curriculum: Preschool, grades
1–4 Age: 5 to 10 years
Duration: 90 minutes

The area around Villingen is one of the earliest settled regions on the Baar. The oldest traces date back as far as the 6th millennium B.C. This hands-on guided tour of the Stone Age focuses on stone as a material and its various uses. Participants will try out various tools, from a Stone Age lighter to a millstone and a Stone Age drill. Finally, the children will create a piece of jewelry from slate and learn the necessary steps involved in the process.

Relevance to the curriculum: Grades
1–5 Age: 7 to 12 years
Duration: 90 minutes

The Magdalenenberg princely tomb, dating from around 616 B.C., is considered the largest Iron Age burial mound in Central Europe. The leader of a local early Celtic community—a so-called “prince”—was buried there in a chariot grave. During the guided tour for kindergartens and elementary schools, the children search for grave goods themselves in a sandbox featuring a true-to-scale reconstruction of the burial chamber. As a hands-on activity, participants work in small groups to create clay pots and jewelry.

Relevance to the curriculum: Preschool, grades
1–4 Age: 5 and up
Duration: 90 minutes

The monks of the Franciscan Order once walked through the rooms that are now part of the museum. Following in their footsteps, the students learn about a medieval monastery complex and its functions, and reenact a typical daily routine. In this playful way, they explore one of the city’s most impressive architectural landmarks.

Relevance to the curriculum: 1st and 2nd grade
Age: 6 to 8 years
Duration: 90 minutes

The rural past of the Black Forest is often romanticized as the “good old days.” However, these idealized notions do not convey how people actually lived and went about their daily lives. This guided tour offers a general introduction to life in the Black Forest 100 to 200 years ago and covers topics such as glassmaking, the clock trade, and the traditional costumes of that era.
In small groups, participants will try on an original Sankt Georgen traditional costume and other traditional costumes, examining their individual components, and decorate wooden boxes.

Relevance to the curriculum: Preschool, all grade levels
Age: 5 to 99 years
Duration: 90 minutes

The cuckoo clock is recognized worldwide as a symbol of the Black Forest. However, it is less well known how the bird—which, as is well known, lays its eggs in other birds’ nests—came to be featured in the clock. Questions like these are answered during the guided tour. The tour explores both the cuckoo’s role as a harbinger of spring and a symbol of good luck, as well as the evolution from the cuckoo whistle to the bellows-powered whistle and from the lacquered shield clock with a painted bird to the cuckoo clock. Participants will make a miniature cuckoo clock out of a matchbox.

Relevance to the curriculum: Preschool, grades
1–4 Age: 5 to 10 years
Duration: 90 minutes

At the Franciscan Museum, children can immerse themselves in the true history of Christmas—without Santa Claus or a Christmas tree, but surrounded by original works of art. During the popular Christmas tour, children explore the traditions in a playful way and learn not only what myrrh and frankincense are, but also that St. Nicholas came from Turkey. As a hands-on activity, students get to embroider a candle, allowing them to try their hand at the craft of tapestry-making. Don’t forget your camera!

Relevance to the curriculum: Grades
1–4 Duration: 60–90 minutes

The figures depict the world of Villingen Carnival in miniature (1:3 scale). At the center is the parade of the historic Narrozunft, featuring Narro and Alt-Villingerin, Stachi and Morbili, Treiber, Butzesel, and Wuescht. Among the spectators are well-known local figures and “characters” such as the Eiermaa and the Spittelmatthis. Every year, new figures and scenes are created based on a special theme. The children discover the individual figures on their own with the help of picture cards. Afterward, the children make stick puppets.

Relevance to the curriculum: Preschool, all grade levels
Age: 5 to 99 years

At its core, Carnival is a festival that precedes Lent: people indulged one last time in all the carnal pleasures that would be forbidden in the days to come. The figure of the fool serves as a sinful counterpoint to the devout believer, but at the same time as a seductive reflection of one’s own desires and vanities. During the guided tour, the background of the tradition as well as individual motifs—such as the foxtail and collar, the donkey’s head, and straw—are explained in an age-appropriate manner against a general cultural and intellectual-historical backdrop. Younger participants will also paint and decorate a pre-made cardboard mask.

Relation to the curriculum: Preschool, all grade levels
Age: 5 to 99 years
Duration: 90 minutes

In the museum’s permanent exhibition, children go on a hunt for Easter eggs and, along the way, learn what Easter is actually about and how Easter traditions have evolved.
Afterward, there’s a short craft activity where they make egg cups. Depending on your preference, we can place greater emphasis on the Christian background of Easter or on the playful aspect.

We also offer a themed guided tour without a religious focus, featuring a museum scavenger hunt through the Black Forest collection.

Relevance to the curriculum: Grades
1–4 Age: 5 to 12 years
Duration: 90 minutes

The Magdalenenberg princely tomb, dating from around 616 B.C., is considered the largest Iron Age burial mound in Central Europe. The leader of a local early Celtic community—a so-called “prince”—was buried there in a chariot grave. Participants can complete activities using key artifacts. As a hands-on activity, participants will work in small groups to create clay vessels and jewelry.

Relevance to the curriculum: Grades
5–8 Age: up to 15 years
Duration: 90 minutes

The example of Villingen provides a prime illustration of the founding and development of a medieval town. Villingen’s origins in the Zähringer domain are still evident today in the town’s distinctive skyline, with its four former gate towers. Furthermore, the extensive collections of the museum’s local history department provide a vivid picture of life and daily routines in the medieval town. Following the guided tour, participants will make clay impressions of seals or mint coins.

Relevance to the curriculum: Grades
6–8 Age: 11–14 years
Duration: 90 minutes

The section on guilds is a focal point of the permanent exhibition on the city’s history up to 1800. The history of the guilds, their function, and their organization within the medieval community are explained. Important symbols and artifacts, such as guild signs, guild chests, and guild seals, are examined and analyzed together.

As a hands-on activity, students copy old guild signs or design modern “guild signs.” Older students prepare a mock trial for and against the abolition of the guilds.

Relation to the curriculum: Grades
7–12 Age: 12 and up
Duration: 90 minutes

At the Franciscan Museum, a model house offers a glimpse into the daily life of a Villingen farmer: a nice (smoke-free) living room and a dark kitchen, as well as a separate entrance for people and animals—these are significant differences from today’s living standards. A “minne” rug and a “minne” box explain the original meaning of the word “furniture,” since these items were truly portable.
In the hands-on portion, participants will shape tiles from clay.

Relation to the curriculum: Grades
8–12 Age: 13 and up
Duration: 90 minutes

Traditional costumes are not only beautiful to look at, but also serve important social functions. To this day, they highlight similarities and differences that distinguish cultures, communities, and individuals from one another. The development and function of traditional costumes and some of their components—such as the famous Bollenhut—are explained using historical examples. Finally, participants can try on an authentic Sankt Georgen traditional costume.

Also available in English/French

Relevance to the curriculum: all grades
Age: 6 and up
Duration: 90 minutes

The history of watchmaking in the Black Forest is much more than just the history of the cuckoo clock. From a rural sideline to a thriving industry, watches have shaped the region’s history. The Franciscan Museum’s Spiegelhalder Collection features unique exhibits on the manufacture, distribution, and trade of Black Forest clocks during a time when they were beginning their triumphant march across the world.

During the hands-on portion of the tour, participants will paint clock signs.

Relevance to the curriculum: all grades
Age: 6 and
up Duration: 90 minutes

The museum building, a former Franciscan monastery, becomes an “exhibit” in its own right. The rooms that still exist—such as the church, sacristy, chapter house, refectory, and cloister—illustrate monastic life. However, the monks of the mendicant order were only one of several religious communities based in Villingen that helped shape the town’s destiny. Benedictines and Knights of St. John also vied for the favor and spiritual salvation of the population.

Activity: In various working groups, students document exhibits from the religious sphere through drawings and by answering questions.

Relevance to the curriculum: 5th grade
and up Age: 10 and up
Duration: 90 minutes

Humans, as “tool-making animals,” developed all the types of tools still in common use today very early in their history. The plow—the first machine not reliant solely on human muscle power—has been multiplying human labor for 4,500 years. This was followed by the use of water power starting in the Middle Ages and, as a fundamental prerequisite for industrialization, the engine as a universal power source. As part of the guided tour, the stationary diesel engine from 1906 is started up, among other things. Afterward, various work tasks must be completed.

Relevance to the curriculum: Grades
9–12 Age: 15 and older
Duration: 90 minutes

Industrial companies in the Third Reich, in particular, were intertwined with the Nazi system in many ways, as can be seen in the structure of the Saba company and the devices it produced. The tour also addresses the political convictions of the mayor at the time and Villingen’s development into a Kneipp spa town.

Afterward, the students engage with the events of the Nazi era through a role-playing activity. Using the example of the so-called “radio crimes,” participants are encouraged to empathize with the situations of various characters from that time, and to evaluate and discuss their behavior.

Relevance to the curriculum: Grades
9–12 Age: 14 and older
Duration: 90 minutes

The tour covers the highlights of the Franciscan Museum’s collection that are of particular interest to visitors from France: the Celtic princely tomb at Magdalenenberg, the Black Forest Collection, and the permanent exhibition on Carnival. Magdalenenberg is the largest Hallstatt-period burial chamber in Central Europe. The story of its looting and two archaeological excavations is so fascinating that the museum even offers an AR app dedicated to it. The Black Forest collection showcases historical objects for which this region is known, primarily clocks and glassware, but also straw weaving and the famous Bollenhut. Carnival customs vary greatly from region to region in Germany. The characters from the historic Villingen Carnival are introduced.
In a scavenger hunt that follows, the students set out to find exhibits on different floors.