History of fire brigades around the world, Germany: the Ravensburg Feuerwehrmuseum

By Cristiano Antonino Last updated Jun 25, 2021

Also if not very well known, the Ravensburg Feuerwehrmuseum is a really interesting museum full of memorabilia of the history of Firefighting

The museum was founded in 1983, following the transfer of the Ravensburg Fire Department to the Salzstadel building (built in 1353-1355), where it was decided that the space in the attic of the building would be used to give life to the Feuerwehrmuseum.

This to make it possible to preserve and display old fire-fighting equipment to the public that otherwise would have risked to be lost.

The firefighting equipment collected over the years was then restored to the smallest detail by veteran members of the department

These vehicles and equipments, exhibited in an area of about 650 square meters, are arranged in the perfect way to tell the story of the activities of the Fire Brigade in the Southern German region and are admired by all visitors.

The highlights of the exhibit are 15 large devices, including various antique hand pumps and horse-drawn pumps.

In addition, there are numerous contemporary vehicles that show the continuous evolution of technologies available to the Ravensburg Fire Brigade.

The various types of alert of the Fire Brigade are illustrated in detail and the visitors can admire the ancient alarm devices and the changes that have led to modern alarms.

Immediately after entering the Feuerwehrmuseum, visitors are greeted by the guard positioned inside the faithfully reconstructed alarm room, a room that at the time had the function of receiving notifications and alerting the agents on duty.

The main hall of the Feuerwehrmuseum in Ravensburg

We then move on to the large main hall, where a wide variety of large devices are exhibited, from hand pumps to the revolving horse-drawn aerial staircase.

This equipment is flanked by various showcases in which are displayed small fire-fighting memorabilia such as personal protective equipment, radio equipment, self-contained breathing apparatus, uniforms and numerous helmets.

In another room, museum visitors can witness the faithful representation of a house fire and how the Fire Brigade took action to fight it using only the hand pumps and equipment available at that time.

Also in this room there is another of the attractions most loved by younger visitors, the area dedicated to car models, where there are exhibited many models of rescue vehicles.

Each year the museum welcomes more than 800 visitors who take the opportunity to see the beautiful structure and visit the historic and modern emergency vehicles of the city department.

An example of how the conservation and protection of emergency vehicles can integrate with the history and architecture of cities to make visitors discover the beauties of both worlds.