Hamm Attractions

The Gustav Lübcke Museum in Hamm displays the rich private collection of the art dealer of that name, which he turned over to the city. The main strength of the collection lies in its furniture, ceramics, glass and book illumination from the Gothic period onwards. The museum also contains exhibits on prehistory and the early historical period, an Egyptian collection and Greek and Roman antiquities.

The Maximilianpark in Hamm, a leisure park with a congress and conference center, was laid out for the first Garden Show in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1984 on the site of the old Maximilian pit. The former coal-washing plant was converted by Horst Rellecke, a local artist, into a huge structure of glass and steel in the form of an elephant. Also in the park are a large collection of butterflies and a Railroad Museum (with a simulation of a driver's cab).

In the Hamm town center are a number of old burghers' houses, restored after destruction in the Second World War, the oldest of them dating from the 17th C. In Antonistrasse can be seen the Stuniken-Haus, a Late Baroque merchant's house, and in Südstrasse is the Vorschulze-Haus, another Late Baroque house (1744), which now houses the municipal department of culture (exhibition rooms).

The church of St Pankratius (Pancras) in Hamm, a Protestant parish church originally built about 1000, has preserved some Romanesque work in the west tower and the south wall. The pattern of the interior is set by the Gothic transept and choir. The church has a 13th century font and there are frescoes ( c. 1330-40) in the choir.

The Pauluskirche (Protestant) in Hamm dates from the 13th century, when the town was founded. In subsequent centuries - most recently in 1945 - the church was damaged or destroyed, but always rebuilt. The transept and choir are Romanesque; the nave and square tower date from about 1330.

The Romanesque Reginenkirche (Catholic parish church) in Hamm is thought to have been founded about 1200. It has a Romanesque font, the reliquary of St Regina and a 16th C. high altar from Antwerp.