The executioner in any city was just another civil servant known to everybody and thus was unlikely to wear a mask, especially not one with such small eye slits that would make the job more difficult to do. The executioner’s mask is a 19th-century invention and the one long on display as such was originally a shame mask. long ears (person hears everything), glasses (sees everything), big tongue (gossips), big nose (sticking it in other’s business), snakes or devil (for people with bad thoughts). Every mask was filled with symbolism, e.g. These would indicate what the wearer was guilty of, ranging from men behaving as a swine (pig) to being too proud and vain (cockerel). The museum has a large collection of masks of shame. Tools of Torture and Public Humiliation in Rothenburg Some may treat it as a torture museum by simply looking at the tools of torture and public shaming, but visitors can also learn much about the history and development of the criminal justice system in Europe in general and Germany in particular. The Medieval Crime Museum is very interesting to visit and receive high ratings on Tripadvisor. Even during the real middle ages, medieval Rothenburg was not one living torture hell and public shaming theater on a daily basis. It is maybe important to note that very few of the items are actually from Rothenburg itself, and anyway were not used daily or all at the same time. Many of the dioramas are delightfully old fashioned. The museum does have a few media stations but on the whole does not do too much modern interactive displays, which in a collection with many tools of torture is perhaps not that bad a thing. All items are described in English, although once again here the write-ups are often on laminated cards and not that rigorous. The exhibitions in the Medieval Crime Museum are a bit old fashioned with glass display cases reminding of the 1970s rather than the 21st century. It also has large sections and many exhibitions relating to law in it various forms including not only criminal law but also constitutional law, family law, the historic role of the church in law, as well as punishment in schools, superstition, and a few spectacular and notorious legal cases. The museum covers the entire criminal justice process from the start of proceedings and the obtaining of evidence to sentencing and punishment. Many items are from the early modern era rather than the middle ages (before ca. Despite the name, it includes a thousand years of European legal history with the emphasis on the German-speaking world. The collection of the Mittelalterliches Kriminalmuseum is spread over four floors with a further modern venue for temporary exhibitions. These range from the ever-popular tools of torture to important legal documents and texts. The Medieval Crime Museum is with over 5,000 items the most important collection of historical criminal justice instruments in Germany.

Medieval torture devices