Kurpfälzisches Museum: Heidelberg Travel Guide (4.5★)

A palace on the shopping street

The Hauptstraße shop windows give way to a courtyard gate. Behind it is the Palais Morass, an early 18th-century baroque townhouse that now holds Heidelberg’s main museum of art and history for the Electoral Palatinate (the Kurpfalz). Most people walking between Bismarckplatz and the Old Bridge go straight past it. That’s why it’s so much calmer than the castle up the hill.

Inside, the collection runs in rough chronological order, from prehistory to the 19th century. Plan on 90 minutes to two hours if you read the labels.

The rooms that justify the detour

You’ll find three highlights here and nowhere else in the city:

• The Mauer jaw: a cast of the 600,000-year-old lower jaw of Homo heidelbergensis, found in a sandpit at Mauer, southeast of the city. The original belongs to the university, so this is the version on public display.
• Tilman Riemenschneider’s Windsheim Apostles’ Altar (the Zwölfbotenaltar, 1509): carved limewood figures by the leading German sculptor of his day, displayed at close range.
• Roman Heidelberg: finds from the fort and settlement on the Neuenheim bank of the Neckar, across the river from the Altstadt.

Upstairs, the paintings and prints show the Romantic image of Heidelberg: the ruined castle, the bridge and the river valley, as 19th-century artists sold them to the rest of Europe. It’s worth seeing before you climb to the castle yourself.

Timing your visit around the crowds

Currently the museum opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm, and is closed on Mondays. Museum hours change during the year and on public holidays, so check the official site for this month’s schedule before you go.

The busy stretch on weekends runs from 11am to 6pm. If Saturday or Sunday is your only option, be at the gate at 10am and do the upper floors first. Otherwise come on a weekday: its quiet reputation fits the museum best then.

Getting in and around

• Getting there: trams and buses from Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof run to Bismarckplatz. From there it’s about 10 minutes on foot east along the Hauptstraße pedestrian zone. You can’t drive up to the door, so use one of the Altstadt car parks.
• Tickets: buy them at the desk inside. The current admission price is posted there and on the museum’s website.
• Bags: large bags and coats generally go in the lockers before you enter the galleries, as in most German museums. Keep a coin handy in case the lockers need one.
• Photos: rules differ between the permanent collection and loaned special exhibitions, so look for the signs in each room.
• Pairing it: Universitätsplatz and the Peterskirche are a few minutes further east. Go on past the Heiliggeistkirche on the Marktplatz to reach the Old Bridge and the castle funicular at Kornmarkt. The museum’s Roman and Romantic rooms are good preparation for both.

Exhibition labels are mainly in German. If you don’t read it, ask at the desk for whatever English material is available, or keep a translation app open.