SCHWEINE
MUSEUM – STUTTGART
Restaurant and Collection of Pig Art, Culture and Kitsch
Why
is calling someone a pig, or a swine an epithet of the highest
order? Are pigs deserving of such derision? Some people certainly
like to eat pork. Some folks think pigs are cute, especially when
small. Winnie the Pooh’s best friend was a piglet, and Bugs
Bunny’s best friend was a stuttering Porky. Well, in Germany,
where the barnyard variety of swine makes up a substantial portion,
pun not unnoticed, of the natural diet, especially to anyone who
has attended a beer fest with the ubiquitous Schweine Haxe doled
on a plate - located in a suburb of Stuttgart, near the Canstatter
Fair Grounds where the Fruhlings and Oktober Beer Festivals (see Stuttgart Festivals), are held and just across the river from the
Mercedes Benz factory (see Mercedes
Benz Museum) and football arena,
the pudgy animal in all imaginable shapes and forms is on display
at the remarkable and kitschy Schweine Museum.
A
long traditional tourist stop in Stuttgart, the Schweine Museum
is essentially a restaurant on the ground floor, with the “museum” on
the floors above. The restaurant, the Stuttgarter Schlachthof, is
a traditional style gasthaus with beer garden, serving a variety
of pork, grilled sucking pig or crisp pork knuckle, as well as other
Swabian influenced delicacies. The building itself is the former
administration building of a slaughterhouse in Jugendstil architecture,
set in the now gentrified former industrial zone. The cozy confine
of the restaurant seats 195, while the terrace of vine arbors and
view of a sculpture garden can accommodate 600 when the sun shines.
You
know you have arrived at the right place by the giant pink pig
standing guard over the front porch. The Schweine Museum, billed
as the largest museum of its particular subject in the world, is
upstairs, on two floors and twenty-eight different theme rooms of
the swinish animal, in a collection rivaling any on one subject. Lucky
pigs to piggy banks, cartoon characters, stuffed animals, antique
porcelain to crystal bejeweled collectibles, advertising signs,
pig characters as firemen and police, nurses and exotic dancers.
Pigs in gold and pigs in velvet, pigs in a vault and surely some in a blanket. There are two thousand
piggy banks alone! There is even a red lit room of pig erotica, with
colorful creatures in all manner of gymnastics you might conceive
to satiate any porcine fantasy, though slightly above the eye level
of younger visitors. Shelves and shelves of well, pigs. And after
seeing the little darlings, head downstairs and dig in, with a beer.
Visiting the Schweine Museum and Stuttgarter Schlachthof
The
museum is open daily from 11am to 7:30pm, with last admission at
6:45. Admission is 4.90€ for adults, 4€ for seniors
and students, 2.50€ children 6-14 and children under 6 free.
There are group tickets and guided tours available. The Schlachthof
Restaurant is open until 11 pm. The Schweine Museum can be
reached by the U9 subway line from the main train station in the
direction of Hedelfingen at the Schlachthof stop. By car off the
B10 at Tal Strasse, follow signs toward the Mercedes Benz museum.
It
is possible to walk from Mercedes, about 10 minutes. © Bargain
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Schlacthof Schweine
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See Also:
UNITED NON-STOP NEW YORK TO STUTTGART
BLACK FOREST CARNIVAL FOOLS MUSEUM
