Sweet work

At the Stiftlandmuseum Waldsassen, a variety of sections demonstrate how traditional crafts shaped people’s lives in times gone by. Tucked away in our attic, for example, is the beekeeping section – a time-honoured craft that is still practised today. The new special exhibition combines historical exhibits with items on loan from modern beekeeping. The selection and supplementation of the exhibited items was carried out with the support of the Waldsassen Beekeepers’ Association and the KUBZ Waldsassen. Visitors learn how beekeeping has changed over the centuries: from the tree-climbing ‘Zeidler’ to the beekeeper who removes honeycombs. The term ‘Zeidler’ is derived from the word ‘zideläre’ or ‘zidler’ and roughly translates as ‘honey gatherer’. Technical innovations since the mid-19th century have led to higher yields in honey harvesting, such as the introduction of wooden frames designed to facilitate the bees’ honeycomb construction.
A second part of the exhibition focuses on the processing of bee products, such as honey and wax. The Church, as the largest consumer of wax candles made from genuine beeswax, often operated its own beekeeping operations, such as the Cistercian monastery in Waldsassen. The monastery owned around 47,000 day’s labour’s worth of woodland for its own use. Bees were also kept in the extensive woodlands. The bleaching of the naturally yellow beeswax took place in the monastery’s cloister garden – a decree stipulated that only candles made from pure (white) beeswax were to be used in places of worship and during Mass. Equally important was the processing of honey, for example for medicinal purposes and nutritious gingerbread.
At hands-on stations, visitors of all ages can deepen their knowledge of bees. What, for example, does Saint Ambrose have to do with bees? Or why were there so-called log hives or figure hives? These and other fascinating facts are revealed in the new special exhibition ‘Sweet Work – Bees, Wax and Wonders’.

Last edited on 15.04.2026