A widow’s residence in the country

This noble manor, whose apparently country-style half-timber structure had been re-painted in the Baroque Age to give the feel of a solidly built brick structure, has a long and tangled ownership history. The building was built as a residence for widows and unmarried daughters of the noble family of Kobrinck from Daren in the Bakum parish. The builder of the house, Agnes Sophie von Kobrinck, spent the last twenty years of her life here until 1696. Because of an inheritance agreement, the house was transferred the to Elmendorff family from Füchtel bei Vechta in 1716, who ultimately sold it to the General Director of a Duisburger mining concern.

Internal and external representation

Like its original location, the manor is also surrounded by a moat at the open-air museum. A drawbridge originally lent the manor a thoroughly defensive character. The rectangular lawn areas in front of the manor are also representative and provide the exemplary impression of a noble Baroque garden. Inside the building, there are portraits of nobility, equipment and tableware, which the Adel-auf-dem-Lande [Nobility in the Country] exhibition uses to provide insights into the everyday world of the noble landowners of North-western Germany as part of the continuously changing presentations.