Karrenmuseum
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 Entrance of the museum | |
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| Established | 1971 |
|---|---|
| Location | Moerkantsebaan 52 Essen, Belgium |
| Type | Historical Museum |
| Website | Karrenmuseum |
The Karrenmuseum is an historical museum about carts, wagons, carriages and the making thereof, located in Essen, Belgium.
In 1950 Alfons Tireliren, a teacher with a passion for history, started collecting carts, wagons and carriages. He bought a plot of land in Wildert and built a shed to house his collection. Tireliren was chairman of the heritage association of Essen.[1]
Tirelin and the association moved the collection in 1971 to a new location in Essen and started the Karrenmuseum. An 18th-century barn was added in 1976, followed by a smithy and a wheelwright shop in 1979.[1]
The museum was officially recognized in 2006. In 2016 it became a regional museum. The Karrenmuseum celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2021 with the reopening of the carriage house.[1]
Description
The Karrenmuseum is located at the Moerkantsebaan 52 in Essen, Belgium. Its collection of over 300 carts, wagons and carriages is exhibited in open and half-open sheds and in the carriage house. There is a wheelwright shop, a wood shop,a rope shop and a smithy. The museum has its own library, functions as a center of expertise and digitizes its collection.[2]
The museum owns several exceptional pieces such as a traction engine and a horse drawn firefighting apparatus relying on steam for water pressure. The carriage house shelters carriages on loan from the Museum aan de Stroom and IVA Historische Huizen Gent, among others.
