Tens of thousands of guests from all over the country visit the traditional nativity scene exhibition in Telgte every year. But it is not only at Christmas time that the RELíGIO Museum offers an exciting dialog on matters of faith. Founded in 1934 as a pilgrimage and local history museum, the museum in the Münsterland region is now dedicated to current developments in living religion and modern spirituality under a new name.
A good 80 years ago, when the collection of exhibits on religious culture and crafts in Münsterland began in Telgte, Westphalia was still relatively small in religious terms. One part was Catholic, the other more Protestant. Today, people of all world religions live in NRW, the federal state with the highest level of immigration - from Jews, Christians and Muslims to Buddhists, Hindus and members of small religious communities.
Rituals and spiritual offerings
Visitors to the RELíGIO Museum can find out just how great religious diversity is in this country at the "Table of Religions". This forms the entrance portal, so to speak, to the permanent exhibition, which is no longer just about traditional topics such as pilgrimages and Christmas customs. The Telgte exhibition also focuses on (religious) rituals that accompany people into a new phase of life and modern spiritual offerings.
In total, the museum now has over 30,000 exhibits from all areas of religious life in Westphalia, religious folk art from all over the world and sacred art. Initially, it was mainly objects of daily use and handicrafts such as blueprinting, but the collection soon grew to include "various examples of religious folklore". Among other things, visitors can see parts of the estate of Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen. The highlight of the exhibition is a very special "Smachtlappen", as the precious Telgte hunger cloth from 1623 is called in Low German. A special room has been created for the exhibit, a fillet darning made from double-twisted linen threads. Here, visitors can admire the motifs depicted, including the Passion of Christ and the "Lamb of God", at their leisure.
The traditional nativity scene exhibition has a firm place in the museum's calendar of events. Since its foundation, the RELíGIO has presented modern nativity scene art by professionals and amateurs during the Christmas season. . Around 90 international artists now take part in the exhibition, which attracts tens of thousands of people every year to Telgte, the picturesque pilgrimage town whose pilgrimage chapel is right next to the museum entrance.
