Lindern (Oldenburg): Heritage House, Church and Megalithic Tombs

From Town Hall to Heritage House

The former Lindern municipal town hall became the municipality’s heritage house on 12 September 2004. The old watchmaker’s workshop of the Büter family has stood beside the heritage house since 2005. Its small exhibition includes old clocks and an antique bellows, among other items. The history of the town hall and the tradition of craftsmanship come together in close proximity here: one building tells the story of the former town hall, while the other preserves the character of a watchmaker’s workshop.

St. Catherine of Siena also shapes the townscape. The neo-Gothic church was built between 1860 and 1865 and is visually the centre of the town. The altar features panel paintings from the 16th century, along with Gothic stained-glass windows and other sacred objects. The furnishings thus introduce a historical note that significantly predates the church’s construction. During a guided tour, visitors learn about its builder, Johann Bernhard Hensen from Sögel, the building’s origins and distinctive features of its design.

Audio Stations, Guided Tours and Cycling Route

All you need for a personal guided tour of Lindern using the audio stations is a smartphone. The local tour guides also offer a range of tours on foot, by bicycle or combining both. This gives you different ways to explore: you can follow the audio stations or get to know Lindern on a walking and cycling tour.

The four Neolithic megalithic tombs in Lindern are a particular point of interest for cycling enthusiasts. They lie along the “Megalithic Culture Route” cycling trail. The route starts near Osnabrück, ends in Stenum north of Ganderkesee and includes 33 stops. This connects a visit to Lindern’s tombs with a longer route whose stated endpoints are far apart. For holiday planning, this offers a different focus from the local history around the heritage house and church.

A Museum in the Municipality of Lindern

There is also a museum outside the town of Lindern, within the municipality: in Liener, the municipality’s largest farming community, a small museum displays exhibits about rural life and work in the 19th and 20th centuries. This complements the topics of the town hall, watchmaking and church architecture with a glimpse into rural life in times past. Liener should be understood as a separate place within the municipality, not as part of the town of Lindern.

Further Cultural and Landscape Attractions in the Wider Cloppenburg Destination

In the wider Cloppenburg destination, the Cloppenburg Museum Village – Lower Saxony Open-Air Museum uses around 60 historic buildings to offer insight into the living conditions of the rural population of northwestern Germany. The period represented runs from the late Middle Ages to the 1980s. The museum ship “Angela von Barßel” is ready to set sail; the Angela von Barßel e. V. association offers excursions and special trips that can be booked. Check the booking arrangements before your trip.

Another landscape attraction is the Thülsfelder Talsperre, a reservoir fed by the Soeste and built between 1924 and 1927. It is located in the town of Friesoythe and the municipalities of Garrel and Molbergen. The area and its surroundings have been protected since 1938 and have also been a Natura 2000 site since 1999. The adventure trail at the reservoir has 14 interactive stations; check local conditions before hiking. The Soeste lowland area can be explored from Cloppenburg via Ambühren. Rare plant and animal species, grassland, and near-natural woodland and marshland shape the landscape there. The wider Cloppenburg destination also includes the approximately 2,000-hectare woodland and heathland area of Dwergter Sand in Molbergen, with an extensive network of cycling, walking and riding trails.

When looking for a holiday apartment, it may help to decide first what you would like to focus on: do you want Lindern’s local history to take centre stage, are you particularly interested in guided tours, or would you like to plan your trip around the megalithic route? This helps you choose where to stay based on the experiences you have planned, without treating different excursion and cultural topics as if they were the same.

Discover more destinations: Molbergen, Lastrup, Bösel, Friesoythe, Barßel, Petersfeld, Essen, Saterland.

View the wider travel overview: Cloppenburg.