Karl-Marx-Haus (Karl Marx Birthhouse)

Karl Marx Museum in the birthplace of the founder of modern socialism. Is more a museum about early 19th century living rather than communism or something like that. It may come as a surprise that Karl Marx was not born in an industrial city but in Trier, which at that time (May 5, 1818) had fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. The other surprise may be that the birthplace, today's Karl Marx Museum (Karl-Marx-Haus, fee), is not to be found in Karl-Marx-Strasse but Brückenstrasse 12 (the first section was not renamed in order to keep the historical address).

The house is one of the most beautiful burgher's houses in Trier with the 1727 front section, an inner courtyard, an addition from the 1860's, and a surprisingly large garden. The museum contains principally three exhibitions: the history of early Communism and Socialism on wall charts and a display of rare early editions of Marx's writings (like the first editions of the Communist Manifesto from 1848 and Das Kapital from 1867; there is a research library, the Karl-Marx-Studienzentrum, a few houses down the street with more than 70,000 volumes); on the top floor, finally, there is a collection of original photos, documents, and manuscripts.