Fastnachtsmuseum Narrenschopf

The central museum of the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht shows over 380 colorful figures of jesters in three impressive domed structures and explains the history, background and traditions of this custom, which has been celebrated for centuries and was included in the nationwide register of intangible cultural heritage in 2014, in a clear and multimedia way.

Story of the Fool's Head
The story of the fool began with the closure of the Rottweiler Saline "Wilhelmshall" in the spring of 1969.
The municipality of Bad Dürrheim acquired an octagonal cover of the former brine storage tank from the years 1847/48 with a diameter of almost 18 meters, which is within sight of the drilling towers the Dürrheimer Ludwigssaline was rebuilt. On January 10, 1970, the general meeting of the Association of Swabian-Alemannic Fools' Guilds decided to found a "Fools' and Customs Museum of Swabian-Alemannic Fools' Guilds" in the historic dome. The museum building, which opened on May 4, 1973, has been known as the "Narrenschopf" since the topping-out ceremony on November 24, 1971.

The lack of space, the great response from the public and the desire to house the central archive of the VSAN office led to the construction of two extensions. Since the material for the round dome taken over from Rottweil was no longer available, a reconstruction with a connecting structure was built in the years 1981 - 1983. For the State Horticultural Show in 1994, a copy of the second dome with a basement was built, along with an extended foyer with a turret as an eye-catcher.
In 2002, the building and almost all of the houses on display became the property of the Cultural Foundation of the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht. However, the museum was run by the association Narrenschopf e. V. Under his leadership, the museum was completely redesigned in 2011 according to modern museum educational and design requirements and reopened on January 28, 2012.

After the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht was included in the nationwide register of intangible cultural heritage in December 2014, the museum was included in the federal project "museum4punkt0 - Digital Strategies for the Museum of the Future" in 2017. Since then, Bad Dürrheim has been working on the modules "Virtual Museum of Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht" and "360° Projections" and "Virtual Reality".
On January 1, 2018, the association Narrenschopf handed over the operation of the museum to the umbrella organization, the Vereinigung Schwäbisch-Alemannischer Narrenzünfte e. V., which has been running it as its own business ever since, while the Narrenschopf association acts as a support association.