–  Clemens Sels Museum Neuss

Neuss 1474

The siege by Charles the Bold

July 1474: 14,000 knights and soldiers from France, Belgium, Italy, England and the Netherlands surround Neuss. One of the largest sieges of the Middle Ages begins. The attackers bombard Neuss with ultra-modern artillery and attempt to storm the city again and again. It was not until ten months later that the imperial army led by the German Emperor Frederick III ended the siege.

The siege was triggered by a dispute over the throne of the Archbishop of Cologne. The deposed Bishop Ruprecht of the Palatinate had summoned Charles the Bold, the powerful Duke of Burgundy, to his aid. He wanted to conquer Neuss, as the city was on the side of Hermann of Hesse, Ruprecht's opponent. Neuss was a small but heavily fortified town at the time.

Archaeological finds from Neuss town houses, monasteries and castles show how its approximately 4,000 inhabitants lived.

The new special exhibition “Neuss 1474: The siege by Charles the Bold” is a journey back in time to the medieval town for young and old!

Exciting themed areas await visitors in the individual exhibition rooms, which impressively document everyday life in the besieged city, monasteries and churches, the weapons found and the Battle of Reckberg.

Various audio stations have been produced in cooperation with Bettina Schneidewin, Dominik Kaulen and the education authority of the Rhine district of Neuss. The pupils of the Kreuzschule Neuss bring the exhibition to life in short audio plays.

Also - and especially! - for our younger visitors: join in and try it out! In a separate area for children, they can try on medieval clothing, recreate a castle or the Obertor gate and a dining table with various foods shows what was available to people in besieged Neuss at the time.

Historical figures such as Charles the Bold, St. Ursula and Hermann of Hesse are brought to life at video stations and describe impressions and experiences during the siege. Detailed 3D-printed models of the sites of the siege, embedded in a modern-day city map, illustrate the extent of the fighting.

One highlight of the exhibition is the depiction of a possible course of the Battle of Reckberg in 1475. To this end, the two media artists Sean Fortune and Frederic Printz have visualized the troop movements on the battlefield for the first time with the help of an animation, immersing visitors in a medieval spectacle.

On Sunday, May 19, 2024, International Museum Day, history will be brought to life through reenactment! Members of the “Zonser Garnison A. D. 1474 e. V.” in historical dress will be on hand to answer questions in the exhibition room.

The Theater-AG of the Görresschule Neuss under the direction of Janie and Dominik Kaulen will present the gripping story of the medieval siege in the museum's garden hall on Sunday, June 9, 2024. Various guided tours and creative workshops for children round off the varied exhibition program.

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