Oldenburg (Oldb) can be explored through a wide range of themes: the “Hallo Grünkohl” event turns the city centre into a meeting place for kale fans every year, offering both classic and modern versions of the dish. Other highlights include a historic garden, distinctive architectural heritage, museums and routes through parks and green spaces. For your stay, you can choose between a culinary occasion, culture and a walk in the green.
Kale, Palace Gardens and Urban Heritage
“Hallo Grünkohl” puts a regional speciality centre stage and connects it with the urban setting: every year, Oldenburg city centre becomes a meeting place for people who enjoy kale. Alongside classic versions, modern varieties are also available. The event offers a special reason to get to know Oldenburg through its food culture.
The Palace Gardens offer a different perspective. Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig had them laid out as an English landscape garden in the early 19th century. Together with the palace façade, they offer a glimpse of two different sides of the city’s history: the garden represents a specific historic design, while the façade of Oldenburg Palace features elements from 400 years of European architectural history.
Listen to History and Admire Architecture
The Lappan is considered a landmark of Oldenburg, its first church tower and the city’s oldest building. The audio piece about its history begins in the Middle Ages, around 1350, when the Lappan was built. It was produced in 2018. The building’s historical context and the audio piece’s timeframe give the Lappan a special place among Oldenburg’s attractions.
The museums also focus on different subjects. The permanent exhibition at the Horst-Janssen-Museum presents the artist’s works in four thematic areas and introduces his techniques, with a particular emphasis on hands-on learning. Art lovers will therefore find not only his works here, but also his artistic techniques as a subject in their own right.
Since 1996, the brick building on Schlosswall has been used, among other things, for the “Keramik im Pulverturm” young artist award series. This series gives emerging artists the opportunity to exhibit their ceramic works at the Stadtmuseum Oldenburg. This is another cultural focus alongside the permanent exhibition on Horst Janssen: here, the emphasis is on ceramics and the work of emerging artists.
Green Routes and Themed Trails
The 21-kilometre circular “Grünes Oldenburg” route starts at Schlossplatz and leads through parks and green spaces. Views of the water, historic neighbourhoods and architectural highlights are among the stops along the route. It brings together several different aspects of the city in one circuit, rather than focusing on a single building or park.
The “Wissenschaft erfahren” trail also follows part of this route. At eight stops, audio contributions invite visitors to explore researchers’ different perspectives on the subject of freedom. The two routes therefore offer different experiences: “Grünes Oldenburg” passes through parks and by historic and architectural points of interest, while “Wissenschaft erfahren” explores a specific subject through its stops and audio contributions.
More Destinations in the Oldenburg District
The Oldenburg district is also home to distinctive cultural and natural attractions. In Hude, the history of the monastery meets museum exhibits: the museum at the monastery displays models illustrating its architectural history, archaeological finds, maps and texts on Cistercian history, as well as a scriptorium where visitors can try writing with a quill. Founded in 1232, the Cistercian monastery was named “Portus Sancte Marie”, meaning “Harbour of Saint Mary”, and quickly became the spiritual, economic and political centre of the eastern part of the County of Oldenburg.
The ruins of Hude Abbey preserve the remains of a three-aisled basilica with an expansive transept. The church was originally more than 57 metres long and over 24 metres wide. These dimensions refer to the original church building; today, the surviving ruins convey the monastery’s architectural form as a remnant.
South of Wildeshausen lies the Pestruper Gräberfeld, an archaeological site of regional importance in a landscape of heathland and pine forest. It includes the largest contiguous area of heathland in the Oldenburg district. Both short and longer walks are possible there. This gives visitors a clear choice: combine the archaeological site with the surrounding landscape and choose a walk of the length that suits them.
In Wardenburg, the Lethe nature trail starts at the watermill by the Lethe bridge, west of the town centre in the “Lethe” nature reserve. The circular route is about three kilometres long and passes through the Wardenburg Lethe lowlands. Its starting point, approximate length and circular layout provide practical guidance for anyone planning a nature walk in the district.
The 40-kilometre canoe route on the Hunte from Wildeshausen to Oldenburg offers a different perspective. It has eleven launch and landing points, ten rest areas and eleven information panels along the nature trail. The river route passes through the Wildeshausen Geest and by sandbanks, steep riverbanks and forests. This makes it quite different from the walking trails in the Wardenburg Lethe lowlands: it is designed as a canoe route and connects riverside scenery with designated launch and landing points.
Discover more destinations: Wardenburg, Kirchhatten, Großenkneten, Kirchseelte, Wildeshausen, Hude, Ganderkesee, Dötlingen.
For the overview of the wider region: Oldenburg.
