The German Customs Museum

The exhibition

The German Customs Museum (Deutsches Zollmuseum) has been located in Hamburg’s old warehouse district (Speicherstadt) since 1992, immediately next to the new Hafen City. On 800 square metres of exhibition area at the historic Kornhausbrücke site it offers visitors well conceived visual presentations of the history of the customs and its present day responsibilities. Only a year after the museum opened it had already earned its place in the special guidebook "Germany’s 100 most exciting museums".

This permanent exhibition has something for everyone, young or old: From exciting contraband tales to all sorts of information about the customs, illustrated by over one thousand exhibits, diagrams, interactive items, as well as film and audio exhibits. Not to forget the decommissioned customs cutter, the Oldenburg, moored in the Zollkanal in front of the museum, which all visitors can board to experience history at first hand.

The historical department

Actually, the history of the customs began as long as 5,000 years ago - even before the time of the Apostle Matthew who is arguably the best-known customs officer. Still, it then took 3,000 years before the first customs duties were charged on the territory of what is now Germany - along the limes, a border zone of the Roman Empire secured by its army.

The tour of the German Customs Museum therefore begins with the Roman provinces. It continues through the German Customs Union, the German Empire, and concludes with the country’s division and reunification.
Visitors are given insights into 2,000 years of customs history and all kinds of information about the customs officials’ world of work which, at the beginning of the 19th century, was made up of about 1,800 customs offices.

The modern-day department

The ground floor offers a wealth of interesting and detailed information about today’s work of the Federal Customs Administration. It explains how the everyday work of customs officers includes discovering illegal movements of animals or protecting citizens and local business from counterfeit brands.
The information available is backed up by special exhibitions dealing with separate aspects of the customs.