Museum of local history
Since 1989 the local history club runs a little museum of local history and culture in the vault cellar of the former city hall of the municipality of Oedt.
The museum is divided into five showrooms and provides an insight into the history of the old community Oedt.
The first room shows the community Oedt with administration and social service, hospitals and schools and a modell of the town in the year 1825.
The second room is reminiscent of military and military services and to the victims of war, 1870-71, 1914-18 and 1939-45.
In the third room, we show findings from the Pre-and Early History of Oedt settlement areas, archaeological finds from the Frankish period, in a special way the many and various finds from the area of the castle Uda, occurring in the extensive excavation of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn, has been brought to light in 1961.The excavations were initiated and strongly supported by our club.
On display are wooden utensils and pottery, iron, leather, parts of weapons and tools made of iron and much more from the medieval castle history Uda, a frontier fortress against the duchies of Cologne and Jülich.
Models illustrate the external form of Burg Uda and a place called "Horber Bergske" in the west of the old village, an area called "Grasheide".
Room four offers memories of the development of the textile industry since the mid-19th Century, in particular the companies Mertes and Girmes.
In addition, we show a number of exhibits which show the varied life of some village-clubs.
In 1170 we find the first documented mention of Oedt, people are already talking of a church or chapel. From this more than 800 years of history of religious life, we show documents, statues and sculptural-groups of altars, finds from 1964 and a model of the old church, that was demolished in 1901. More is shown in the fifth room.
Special exhibitions on particular subjects are shown from time to time.
Appropriate references will be given at time.