The former grand-ducal capital of Offenburg lies on the river Hunte and on the Hunte-Ems Canal. It is a university town, a marketing center for the agricultural produce of the surrounding area and a town of varied industries.
Some 42km/26mi southwest of Oldenburg is Cloppenburg, with Germany's oldest museum village: 52 old buildings of the 16th-19th centuries, including a church, a village school, windmills and craftsmen's houses.
Address: Cloppenburg Museum Village, Postfach 1344, D-49661 Cloppenburg, Germany
Hours:
March 1 to October 31: 9am-6pm
November 1 to February 29: 9am-4:30pm
Always closed on: New Year's Eve (December 31), Christmas Eve - Christian (December 24)
Northwest from the Culture Center in Oldenburg, near the motorway, lies the Botanic Garden.
The garden is divided into public show areas situated at the Philosophenweg and a smaller, restricted area at the Küpkersweg is for the plant nursery and dedicated to research.
On the northwest side of the town center of Oldenburg is the Peter-Friedrich-Ludwigshospital, an elegant neo-classical building that now houses the town's Cultural Center.
To the south of the Markt in Oldenburg can be found the Grand-Ducal Palace (17th-18th C.), with the beautiful palace gardens behind it. It now houses the Landesmuseum of Art and Culture (art from the Gothic period to the present day, period furniture, folk art and traditions). A little way south of the museum is the Augusteum, a gallery of 20th C. art.
Address: Schloss Oldenburg, D-26122 Oldenburg, Germany
On the northern edge of the old town of Oldenburg stands the Lappan, the tower of the old Chapel of the Holy Ghost (1468), the oldest building in the town and a prominent landmark; it is now occupied by the Verkehrsverein (tourist information office).
In the center of the old town of Oldenburg, which is surrounded by gardens and watercourses on the line of its old fortifications, lies the Markt, with the Town Hall (1887) and St Lambert's Church (13th, 18th and 19th c.).
In Raiffeisenstrasse in Oldenburg, is the Municipal Museum (regional history and art), and to the northeast beyond the railroad station, the Weser-Ems-Halle (sporting events, concerts, congresses, etc.).
Near the Augusteum in Oldenburg, on the Damm (which runs southeast from the Schlossplatz), is the Museum of Natural History and Prehistory (geology and ecology of the region, archaeology).
West of Wildeshausen and north of Visbek, near the motorway, are the "Visbek Bride" and the "Visbek Bridegroom" - two Neolithic chamber tombs respectively 82m/269ft and 108m/354ft long.
Some 40km/25mi southeast of Oldenburg on the river Hunte lies the little town of Wildeshausen, with a 13th C. church (14th c. wall paintings) and a Gothic Town Hall. To the south of the town are prehistoric burial areas (the Pestrup cemetery, the Kleinenkneter Steine).
Address: Wildeshausen Tourist Office, Am Markt 1, D-27793 Wildeshausen, Germany
Some 17km/10.5mi northwest of Oldenburg, in the Ammerland area, is the Zwischenahner Meer, a lake over 3km/2mi long and up to 2.5km/1.5mi wide. On its southern shore is the spa (mud-baths, Kneipp cure) of Bad Zwischenahn, with an open-air museum of typical Ammerland houses.
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Wildeshausen, Germany
