Discover Schmölln: Button-making history, waterways and cycling tours

Button-making history and historic places

The Schmölln Button and Regional Museum provides an overview of the changing history of button production in Schmölln. Tagua nuts played a special role in this. The museum explores the manufacturing process through its raw materials, tools and historic machinery. An audio guide is available for families and children, as are workshops for children and teenagers. If you would like to explore the permanent exhibition with a guided tour, you can arrange one by appointment.

You can also encounter the history of button-making beyond the museum: the Button Trail once passed around 18 smaller and larger button factories. Another landmark building in Schmölln is St. Nikolai Town Church, built in the 15th century. Schmölln’s market square is one of the largest market squares in central Germany.

Water discovery trail and leisure pool

The Sprotte Water Discovery Trail runs from Posterstein Castle to Schmölln, following the Sprotte between Posterstein and Schmölln. The trail is nine kilometres long in total and features twelve interactive stations and activities. These include a mill-themed playground, bridges and fords, the Weidendorf willow village and a Kneipp path. With its gentle gradients and stations for play and discovery, the trail is particularly well suited to families. Its different features appeal to younger visitors in different ways: some invite them to play, while others make the water and trail a shared subject of discovery.

For a different kind of water-focused activity, there is the TATAMI leisure pool in Schmölln. Its water area covers 400 m², and the lap pool is 25 m long. The pool also has a Japanese-style sauna complex with several themed saunas and a steam room. The same leisure centre therefore offers both a swimming pool and a separate sauna area to choose from.

Cycling tours and a distinctive observation tower

There are several options for exploring the area by bike. The Thuringian Cities Route cycling trail stops in Schmölln. A cycling tour around Schmölln, particularly recommended for families, starts in the town centre and covers around 35 kilometres. This is an approximate guide, not an exact route length. Schmölln is also a stop on the roughly 65-kilometre cycling tour through the Altenburg Fruit-growing Region. This gives you two different options: a family cycling tour around Schmölln and a longer tour through the Altenburg Fruit-growing Region. When planning, be sure to match each route length to the correct tour.

A striking landmark in the landscape is the Ernst-Agnes Tower: this 30-metre-high iron observation tower stands on the highest point of Pfefferberg above Schmölln. Together with the town church, it showcases two different facets of the area’s architectural history.

Museums and traditions in the municipality

The districts of the municipality also offer their own points of interest. The post mill in Lumpzig, a district of Schmölln, was built in 1732. It is the last surviving post mill in the Altenburg region and one of the two oldest post mills in Thuringia. The mill also hosts several festivals throughout the year, including the Lumpzig Post Mill Festival.

In Altkirchen, a district of Schmölln, the village museum has five exhibition rooms, with more than 2,000 exhibits across around 300 m² of exhibition space. Together with the Button and Regional Museum in Schmölln, it offers further insights into the municipality’s history and exhibition culture.

More places to discover: Gösdorf, Göllnitz, Burkersdorf, Ziegelheim, Lumpzig, Gößnitz, Lucka and Altenburg.

For the wider travel overview: Altenburg Region.