Discover Guben: Clothmakers, museums and the Neisse
Accommodation in Guben
In Guben, the history of clothmaking reaches back to an exhibition featuring a complete sample collection of fabrics from 1873 to 1990. Museums, an unusual insight into taxidermy work and destinations along the banks of the Neisse offer a range of ideas for a stay. Which of these interests you most may also influence your choice of a holiday apartment in Guben.
Discover clothmaking and industrial history
The “History of Guben Clothmakers” exhibition pairs fabric samples with activities for different interests: guided tours for children are offered, and there is also a museum quiz with prizes to be won. A photo and selfie corner featuring the mascot Kopsinchen adds another highlight. Films on industrial heritage are aimed at visitors of all ages.
The exhibitions on Guben’s industrial history are also especially designed for families. Their displays engage several senses: seeing, observing, hearing, feeling, touching and smelling. A picnic lawn in front of the exhibition offers a place to relax. A combined ticket is also available for the clothmaking exhibition, which includes admission to the Town and Industrial Museum. Check the latest information on activities and the combined ticket before your visit.
Insights into a mill and taxidermy work
At the PLASTINARIUM, visitors can see how anatomical teaching specimens are made and watch preparators at work. The facility is considered unique worldwide. For specific visitor information, it is worth checking the latest details from the PLASTINARIUM.
The Sprucker Mill tells a different story: it is a former grain mill in Guben’s Altsprucke district, on the Schwarzes Fließ stream. The grounds of the Sprucker Mill Local History Museum are also home to a fragment of the original Saxon distance column. Here, a former mill site meets a surviving piece of transport history.
Climbing and a cross-border park connection
Those interested in climbing will find the Reichenbacher Zinne in Guben, an artificial reddish-brown climbing rock made of concrete panels. The facility has 17 routes of varying difficulty. It offers a clear contrast to museum visits and the quieter scenery along the river.
The shared cross-border park connects the western bank of the Neisse with Theater Island on the Polish side and Koenig Park; a footbridge and cycle bridge provide the link. It offers a different kind of day out from the clearly defined climbing facility: here, the focus is on the park connection across the border.
Guben’s memorial sites and historic traces
Gravestones at Guben’s memorial square commemorate Soviet soldiers who fell in battle. Another memorial stone remembers Otto Thiele and Franz Blümke, victims of the Kapp–Lüttwitz Putsch. These places add a reflective note to a walk around town.
A replica of the Saxon distance column stands at the descent to the Poetensteig. Dresden sculptor Ralf Börnerow created it for Workers’ Day in 1989. Together with the fragment on the grounds of the Sprucker Mill Local History Museum, it points to two places in Guben where traces of the history of these columns can be found.
More topics in the wider Spree-Neisse destination
The wider Spree-Neisse destination also offers a variety of landscape and cultural themes. The East German Rose Garden in Forst (Lausitz) covers 17 hectares, where visitors can admire tens of thousands of roses in almost 1,000 varieties. The Spreeradweg cycle route crosses the Spree-Neisse region for around 60 kilometres and runs mostly along paved river dikes. Those interested in post-mining landscapes can follow the Niederlausitz Mining Tour, a route past active lignite open-cast mines and reclaimed landscapes.
Other regional themes range from landscape design along the Fürst-Pückler-Weg to insights into the lives and traditions of the Sorbian/Wendish minority on the Sorbian Impressions Tour. In the Spreewald, a distinctive inland delta landscape and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, culinary traditions include, among other things, pickled cucumbers in sour, spiced or mustard varieties, linseed oil with quark, yeasted pancakes and Spreewald fish. These examples belong to the wider Spree-Neisse destination and complement Guben’s own themes with additional regional interests.
Plan your stay around your interests
When looking for a holiday apartment in Guben, it helps to decide first what you want to focus on during your stay: clothmaking and industrial history, taxidermy work, climbing or the cross-border park appeal to different interests. If you are planning a trip with children, you could include the children’s tours and the family-focused industrial exhibitions in your plans. That way, your search starts with the experiences you want to discover in Guben, rather than with accommodation type alone.
Discover more destinations: Forst, Felixsee, Hornow-Wadelsdorf, Werben, Teichland, Tauer, Spremberg, Heinersbrück.
Back to the overview of the wider destination: Spree-Neisse.
