Bad Bentheim

Bad Bentheim is a town in Lower Saxony. In Bad Bentheim is also found the castle Burg Bentheim , the town’s emblem.

Sightseeing

The town’s most prominent emblem, the castle – Burg Bentheim – stands in the town’s centre where it simply cannot be overlooked. The popular tourist site can be visited nowadays as a museum, with or without a guide. The high keep, known as the Pulverturm, or “Powder Tower”, affords visitors a good view over Bad Bentheim.

The Bad Bentheim Sandstone Museum (Bad Bentheimer Sandsteinmuseum) is a museum housed in an historic Bentheim farmer’s townhouse (the farmer in this case was an Ackerbürger, who lived in town and had a townsman’s rights, unlike many farmers) with additions, which shows the history of Bentheim sandstone (quarrying and use, trade and work) and the stone’s geology. Exhibits like, for instance, Romanesque baptismal fonts from the 12th and 13th centuries or fossils, to mention the two permanent exhibits, may be seen here.

The Franzosenschlucht (“Frenchman’s Gorge”) is found right next to the open-air theatre, the so-called Bentheimer Freilichtbühne (open-air stage). The Bad Bentheim open-air plays have an unusual venue set in three disused quarries, thereby offering an extraordinary natural backdrop. In summer plays are staged here. Often special events are held here such as nighttime performances.

The Haus Westerhoff is said to be one of the town’s loveliest farmer’s townhouses (Ackerbürgerhäuser), with its beginnings in 1656. Between 1989 and 1991, it was professionally restored. Today, artists and craftsmen display their works there.

Also worth seeing is the Reformed Protestant church with its Calvinistic interior décor, within which, among others, Count Arnold II zu Bentheim-Tecklenburg lies buried. It was built in 1696 on the site of the former early Gothic church from 1321, of which only bits are now maintained, such as a Gothic room and the Count’s crypt that lies thereunder. Today it is a plain Baroque church in the middle of which stands an old stone pulpit. In the graveyard around the church are found impressive, centuries-old gravestones of importance to art history.

The Roman Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist (Kirche St. Johannes Baptist) with its Baroque interior lies west of the Schlosspark and comes from the time of the Counterreformation. At Count Ernst Wilhelm’s behest, it was built in 1670 from Bentheim sandstone.

Outside, the building is rather plain, but inside there are stately, early Baroque altars and remains of the original glazing in the windows in the north wall.

Other sightseeing highlights include:

• evangelisch-altreformierte Kirche (church, 1896)
• Martin-Luther-Kirche (1912)
• Naturökologisch - Niederländisches Ferienreservat Gut Langen (holiday reserve)
• Bentheimer Wald (forest)
• Bentheimer Berge (mountains)