Museum of Puppet Theater Culture - PuK

The Bad Kreuznach Puppet Theater Museum presents a fascinating permanent exhibition on puppet theater culture worldwide and in Germany. Visitors experience the history of the Augsburg Puppet Theater and the Salzburg Marionette Theater up close, from the carving workshop to the finished wooden head. The UNESCO-recognized puppet traditions, from Chinese shadow figures to Sicilian knight marionettes, can be seen, and at 55 (!) interactive stations, visitors are allowed to SELF-EXPERIENCE, PLAY ALONG, or LISTEN in the exhibition.

The PuK Museum will be awarded the Franz von Pocci Prize in 2025 – after the world-famous Salzburg Marionettes and the Bavarian cabaret artist Gerhart Polt.
Starting in autumn 2025, the special exhibition “Carved – Shaped – Designed” will additionally attract visitors with the work of the Hamburg figure master Jürgen Maaßen, born in 1954 (1973 – 1981 student of sculpture at the Düsseldorf Art Academy).
Jürgen Maaßen appreciates his fellow human beings despite – or because of – their weaknesses. This results in some smiling observations from “real” life being masterfully reflected in his figures: beauty, vanity, grace, provincialism, humor, charm, introspection, or extroversion.
Naturalism is not Maaßen's thing, even if he may master it. Rather, he is interested in a thrilling balance of simplification and exaggeration of form, where exaggeration is not overdone – allowing credible stage creations to emerge. The special exhibition proves this with works from five decades of creative power for the puppet stages of the Republic.
The Bad Kreuznach Puppet Theater Museum is a daily (except Mondays) museum discovery journey with an experiential character: looking, listening, remembering, and playing along.