This year on September 19th the German sand museum just opened its gates to the public. This was possible due to the tremendous efforts of Ralf Hermann, the initiator and president of German Society for Sand Collecting (Sandsammlerverein e.V.). The housewarming party in Cramme this year was not just a coincidence: “behind the stage” was invested since 1994-1995, when Ralf did the first steps towards sharing his experience and passion with other sand collectors by building the first website dedicated exclusively to the sand collecting hobby. By years his collection grew in a steady-state rythm and today is reaching over 25.000 samples from all over the planet.

Ralf Hermann and his collection of over 25.000 sand samples (Photo: NDR)

The museum was opened in Ralf’s house and the preparations were intense until the last seconds before day zero: the walls had to be painted, the exhibits nicely ordered by themes, everything had to be perfect. Ralf printed even advertising banners and hung them all over the city – a good organised event requires professional PR and Ralf got it just right.

Advertising banners for the sand museum (Photo: Sandsammlerverein e.V.)

But the big day has come and the first visitors entered the museums doors attracted by the original idea. “Sand is not always just… the sand as we know it from beach and rivers” said Ralf Hermann in the opening and he did show it to everybody: industrial applications, art objects (such as the famous sand paintings originally made by native americans), objects from daily life, literature and, of course, the classical hourglasses. A newsletter is also available and it can be obtained by contacting Ralf Hermann at info@sandmuseum.de.

Should someone consider visiting the museums, this will be possible from Monday to Friday 12:00 am – 5 p.m., excepting Wednesday when the museum is closed. The address is:

An der Meesche 33
38312 Cramme
GERMANY

Tel. +49-5341-14422
Email: info@sandmuseum.de
www.sandmuseum.de