Regensburg Historical Museum

If you want to understand why Regensburg is a UNESCO World Heritage city, the Historical Museum on Dachauplatz tells the backstory. Housed in a former 13th-century Minorite friary, the city museum covers the history of Regensburg and eastern Bavaria from the Stone Age to the 19th century. Often the real treasure is the building itself: a tall Gothic friary church and a quiet cloister in the middle of the old town, yet away from the crowds.

History: from friary to city museum

Franciscans, known here as Minorites, founded the St Salvator friary in the 13th century. The museum was founded in 1931 but only opened after the Second World War, in 1949, under director Walter Boll. It stands within the area of the former Roman legionary fortress of Castra Regina.

What to see

• Prehistory: From the Pösing hand axe, the oldest artefact in the Upper Palatinate (its age is given as anything from about 100,000 to 250,000 years), to the late Celtic period, plus the grave of the "first Regensburger" from around 5500 BC.
• Roman Regensburg: The most popular section covers the time when Castra Regina was Rome's most important military base in present-day Bavaria, with the fortress's foundation inscription, a coin hoard, models and reconstructions.
• Middle Ages: Set in the friary church and cloister, with stained glass from around 1360/65, a mid-15th-century tapestry of "wild people" and Jewish gravestones from 1217/18 to 1504.
• Altdorfer and the Danube School: Works by the Regensburg painter Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480–1538) and his circle.
• City history: A model of Regensburg around 1700, pictures of the Perpetual Imperial Diet, furniture and costumes.

Good to know

The museum's archaeological holdings are the second largest in Bavaria after the State Archaeological Collection in Munich. Concerts are held in the friary church under the name "Klang.Raum.Museum".

Opening hours and tickets (as of October 2026)

Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays 10:00–16:00; closed on 1 January, Shrove Tuesday, Good Friday, 1 May, 1 November and 24, 25 and 31 December, and also on 29 October 2026. Adults €5, concessions €2.50, families €10. Under-18s and students under 30 enter free, and admission is free for everyone on the first Sunday of the month. Public tours: Roman Regensburg on Saturdays at 13:00, Medieval Regensburg on Sundays and holidays at 13:00, €8 including admission.

Getting there

Dachauplatz 2–4, on the eastern edge of the old town: about five minutes on foot from the cathedral and 15 minutes from the main station.

Tripto tip

Allow 1.5 to 2 hours, or one hour for the Romans only. It is a good rainy-day option, and in winter it closes early enough for a stroll round the Christmas market on Neupfarrplatz afterwards.