Maritime Museum - Haus Elsfleth In 1890, the physician and health official Dr. Christian Ludwig Steenken (1857-1933) commissioned the construction of this Villa. Steenken was closely interconnected with the maritime economy. Indeed, Steenken was a bank director and the head of a maritime shipping line. Additionally, he was the president of the Elsfleth Herring Fishing Society and of the Elsfleth Ship and Shippers´ Society “Concordia”, predecessor of the Nautical Union of Lower Saxony. In 2005, Horst Werner, captain and ship owner from Elsfleth, purchased the beautiful landmark structure, a prime example of the Oldenburg gabled house. He donated it to the “Wesermarsch Civic Trust” with the requirement that it serve as a museum. Since 2010, the “Villa Steenken” is one of the three locations of the Maritime Museum of the Oldenburgian Lower Weser. [More]
Weser Customs in Elsfleth Amidst the confusion of the Thirty Years War, Duke Anton Günther von Oldenburg (1583-1661) achieved the impossible: He established a customs office along the Lower Weser. Indeed, in the Peace Traty of Westphalia in 1648, the Weser Customs Office was confirmed. Much to the dismay of, above all, the Hanseatic City of Bremen, each ship which navigated in either direction along the Lower Weser was required to pay a transit fee. As a result, Oldenburg benefitted from impressive revenues until 1856. The first customs station was located in Brake-Harrien, it was established in 1624 in the current City Hall of Elsfleth. At this site, a model of the old customs station of Elsfleth and of the city center can been viewed. Further information is available in the Maritime Museum “Haus Elsfleth”. [More]