he "butcher's" in the SchweineMuseum
Everything worth knowing about pork
Quite fittingly, the Pig Museum’s “Butcher’s” collection is located in the historical Stuttgarter Schlachthof, the slaughterhouse. There’s lots to see here about butchering, preserving and processing pork. This topic is made visually exciting using important utensils such as chopping batons, meat grinders, kettles, suction cups and pictures.
The wild boar forest in the SchweineMuseum
A life-size pig skeleton
The Pig Museum Laboratory showcases a life-size pig skeleton, pig Siamese twins, and a number of fascinating exhibits all to do with our bristly friends’ biology and physiology. They make the topic of pigs interesting for everyone, not just school classes or amateur biologists.
Discover just how similar we humans are to pigs in the historical Stuttgarter Schlachthof building!
The wild boar hunting room in the SchweineMuseum
The Jägerstube
The Jägerstube in the historical Stuttgarter Schlachthof building not only shows real boar teeth and heads, but also wild boar fur, targets, and pictures from the hunt. Erika Wilhelmer’s lovingly compiled collection of wild boars is home to many exhibits on the topic of wild boar hunting here at the Pig Museum.
Archaeological findings show that wild boars were some of the most important game for Mesolithic people, and made up around 40 to 50% of kills. Fully grown wild boars are very strong and aggressive. Plus, they’re smart enough to evade any opponents. Male boars were considered the epitome of brave. They earned particularly respect from hunters.
The ancestral gallery in the SchweineMuseum
The diversity of pig breeds
The diversity of different pig breeds is depicted in the Pig Museum’s portrait gallery. The number of pig breeds bred globally is unknown, the golden pig in the Stuttgarter Schlachthof historical building is surely one of a kind. In Germany, targeted refinement of native breeds only really started towards the end of the 19th century. English breeding pigs, which were crossed with Asian pigs, were imported for this.
The German wild pig went extinct in the 1970s. It was considered to be the last breed not of Asian origin.
The laboratory in the SchweineMuseum
A life-size pig skeleton
The Pig Museum Laboratory showcases a life-size pig skeleton, pig Siamese twins, and a number of fascinating exhibits all to do with our bristly friends’ biology and physiology. They make the topic of pigs interesting for everyone, not just school classes or amateur biologists.
Discover just how similar we humans are to pigs in the historical Stuttgarter Schlachthof building!
The Global Pig room in the SchweineMuseum
Where do most pigs live?
Every year, bus trips and tourists from all over the world come to the Pig Museum at Stuttgarter Schlachthof. The “Pig Around the World” exhibition room offers an interesting “pig overview”.
China is the largest producer of pigs in the world by far. With roughly 490 million pigs, China owns almost half of the global population of one billion pigs. Europe follows in second place, ahead of the USA. Within Europe, Germany is a “pig” nose ahead. Denmark is the only country with statistically more pigs than human inhabitants. Very few pigs are kept in Islamic countries. Exceptions include Morocco and Tunisia. The only pig in Afghanistan lives in the Kabul Zoo.
The library in the SchweineMuseum
Books on the topic of pigs
There is a large collection of books all about pigs in the Pig Museum. Guest will find everything worth reading for pig lovers, from children’s books to specialist literature and pig novels, we’ve got it all. This room doesn’t just offer plenty to look at, but plenty to read, too. And it’s not just Stuttgarter Schlachthof but also a number of the books are from a historical period as well.
All about pigs in the SchweineMuseum
The versatility of the pig
The “All About Pigs” exhibition clearly illustrates the versatility of the pig. Because pigs aren’t just food for many people, there’s also a lot of money and work involved. The historical Stuttgarter Schlachthof was one of the most important utilities in Stuttgart until the mid 20th century.
And pigs don’t just affect hunters, farmers, butchers and chefs, entire industries work with products produced from pigs. Boar bristles are used for hair- and paintbrushes, for example. Pig leather is the most frequently used leather for making clothes and shoes. The Pig Museum and Stuttgarter Schlachthof don’t just offer things to see, learn and laugh at, but also plenty of culinary offerings involving pigs.
Domestic pigs in the SchweineMuseum
The pig is the oldest pet in existence
In the “Domestic Pig” room, you can learn how long people have kept pigs. The oldest verified evidence of pig farming comes from southeastern Turkey and is over 9,000 years old. The pig has conquered all areas of life, be it as a symbolic motif, lucky charm or piggy bank, as a toy or everyday object, and the Pig Museum in Stuttgart demonstrates this better than anywhere else.
Which child wouldn’t want a cute little pink piggy as a pet? In this exhibition of the Stuttgarter Schlachthof Pig Museum, guests are able to see just how big pigs can get. And although you can’t take a live one home, guest can pick up a cute, cuddly piggy from the Museum Shop.
Domestic pigs in the SchweineMuseum
Pigs in both written and spoken formats
Pigs aren’t just depicted visually here at the Pig Museum, in the pigsty room guests are introduced to a number spoken snippets. No animal has affected our speech quite like the pig. Many visitors to the Museum in Stuttgart have certainly “had a pig” - the German phrase for having good luck! No animal is used as a synonym as frequently as the pig. Some examples include being “as happy as a pig in muck” or “making a pigs ear of something”. So you can really feel "sow good" while relaxing and enjoying some delicious food in the Stuttgarter Schlachthof Restaurant, Beer Garden or Sun Terrace after an exciting day at the Pig Museum.
Countless idioms and expressions identify pigs and humans in different positive and negative ways.
Cheeky pig in the SchweineMuseum
The pig as sex symbol
In the historical Stuttgarter Schlachthof, guests entering the Pig Museum’s red room won’t just see the humanised pigs point of view when it comes to sexuality. The words “dirty pig” is used the same way as pigs are in widespread sexual symbolism.
Pigs are not only precocious and very fertile, they also have the longest orgasm at 30 minutes. However, breeding sows are only on heat around every 21 days. But their sex life is nowhere near as excessive as numerous phrases, texts, and pictures may suggest. A look into pigs “hearts” in the Pig Museum’s red room is sure to open your eyes.
The SchweineMuseum pig calendar
12 months of pigs in the calendar room
They all share a mythical connection to the topic of pigs. The Pig Museum’s “Divine Pig” exhibition room, with its golden frames and dark walls, impressively narrates the mythical connection to pigs.
Pigs have a religious function in many world religions. That’s still the case today in South Asia. For the ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as in Germanic and Nordic mythology, the pig was closely linked to fertility goddesses, while the wild pig, especially the boar, was a symbol of courage, strength, and militancy.
The divine pig in the SchweineMuseum
Pigs from mythology
They all share a mythical connection to the topic of pigs. The Pig Museum’s “Divine Pig” exhibition room, with its golden frames and dark walls, impressively narrates the mythical connection to pigs.
Pigs have a religious function in many world religions. That’s still the case today in South Asia. For the ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as in Germanic and Nordic mythology, the pig was closely linked to fertility goddesses, while the wild pig, especially the boar, was a symbol of courage, strength, and militancy.
The cinema in the SchweineMuseum
From domestic pig to star of the big screen
Every pig is a star in the historical Stuttgarter Schlachthof building. In this VIP room of the Pig Museum, you can meet real pig movie stars.
The first pigs to rise to true stardom on the big screen were the three little pigs in the 1933 Disney tale of the same name. The film was played as a successful supporting film in numerous cinemas and was even awarded an Oscar. But a true diva among piggy actors is Miss Piggy who appears in the Muppet Show. And who could forget he adventures of Piggeldy and Frederick, whose show “Sandmännchen TV” is still going today? Many other famous pigs have conquered movie and TV screens, such as Babe, Rudi Rüssel and Wilbur, to name just a few.
The casino in the SchweineMuseum
Even pigs like to gamble
Who would have thought that you’d find a special casino in the historical Stuttgarter Schlachthof building? Pigs are frolicking through so many different themed rooms at the Pig Museum that a casino is no exception! Because as anyone that’s ever spent any time watching pigs knows: Pigs love to play. Pigs don’t just enjoy splashing in mud or throwing hay, in the “Casino” room, pigs also do well at the roulette table or in a game of party poker.
The safe in the pig museum
The porcelain pig
Who would have thought there'd be a huge safe in the historic building of the Stuttgart slaughterhouse? The sight of the various piggy banks in the vault of the SchweineMuseum might just encourage you to save. The plentiful reproduction and rapid weight gain in pigs should probably also be applied to the savings in the porcelain piglet.
The association of pigs and money is much older. As early on as the 5th century B.C., coins had images of domestic pigs and wild boars. The oldest piggy bank dates back to the 13th century.
Pigs represent luck, fertility and frugality. A good reason to visit the world's largest pig museum in Stuttgart.
Pigs, art & antiquities
Old, new, art, and kitsch
The piglet room in the SchweineMuseum
The lifecycle of the pig
In The Stuttgarter Pig Museum’s Piglet Room, guests can take a look at the pig’s entire life from little suckling pig, to piglet, to runner to adult pig. A sow is pregnant for around 4 months, and then gives birth to 6 - 20 piglets.
After birth, each piglet chooses a teat, and won’t change which one they use until they’re weaned after 8-12 weeks. The baby animals are called “suckling pigs” during this time.
When they no longer suckle (no longer suck the mother’s nipples), they’re known as piglets until they reach a weight of around 5 kg. You can visit the little piglets in the old Stuttgarter Schlachthof building every day during the Pig Museum opening times.
The display case room in the SchweineMuseum
Little piglets
You can find the smallest pig in all of the Pig Museum in the Typecase Room. In this room, guest won’t only find a large number of typecases, but also a phenomenal collection of miniature pigs.
But that many little pigs need a big pig to watch over them, in the form of a life-size “comic” pig.
The colourful pig in the SchweineMuseum
The colourful diversity of pigs
Many colourful examples of this species frolic in and around the Stuttgarter Schlachthof building. The Pig Museum’s Colourful Sow room demonstrates perfectly that not all pigs are pink! Pigs can be one colour, two colours, or multicoloured. Their bristly coats can be spotted, flecked, striped, belted or saddled.
In the magical realm of pig colours, the colour white, in all its Hermelian splendor, reigns as the undisputed princess, always elevated above any others with black markings.
But the Pig Museum in Stuttgart shows that even colourful and patterened pigs have something noble about them.
The kitchen in the SchweineMuseum
The best of pork
We already know it at the Pig Museum’s eateries in Stuttgarter Schlachthof. Pork is still the most popular type of meat. The Pig Museum provides interesting information about "delicacies" made from pork in this exhibition room. Nevertheless, tastes have changed over time. Snouts, trotters, pig tails - once part of traditional folk cooking, but hardly used at all now.
But our love of fine ham remains. “Jamón Ibérico“ is often considered the best and most expensive ham. It comes from Spanish Ibérico pigs, which live in forests in Extremadura, Southwest of Madrid.
After an interesting day at the Pig Museum, guests can enjoy the best of heart German cuisine in the Stuttgarter Schlachthof Restaurant.
The bathroom in the SchweineMuseum
An enormous, piggish splash!
In the Stuttgarter Pig Museum’s Bathroom, guests will quickly realise that pigs and cleanliness go hand in hand. Pigs don’t just place great importance on personal hygiene, they’re also excellent swimmers.
Because pigs don’t sweat, they need to take mud baths in temperatures over 20°C to help regulate their body temperature. Plus, wallowing removes insects and parasites. If kept in a species-appropriate manner and given sufficient space, pigs never soil their sleeping or eating areas.
Whether it’s a pig-shaped soap holder, toilet paper printed with pigs, rubber pigs or a pig stopper, there are all kinds of trinkets for the bathroom. We’re sure that Pig Museum guests will feel “sow good” in this bath.
Soft toys in the SchweineMuseum
A plushy mountain of pigs
“Is that a pile of pigs?” might be your first thought when you see our 2.50 m high pig pyramid in the Pig Museum, where hundreds of cute plush pigs are artfully piled up to create an impressive sight.
Pigs are sociable and like being touched. While resting, they snuggle up as close to each other as they can. Which is why they were available as cuddly toys from as early as 1892. Surprisingly, the now famous Teddy Bear first appeared 10 years later. Some Pig Museum guests are sure to find a cuddly pig to hug and snuggle with at home in our Museum Shop.
Walk-in storage room
A depot full of pigs
Lots of pigs are frolicking about in this room. Big or small, lying, standing, colourful, pink, or piggy bank. In this themed room of the Pig Museum Stuttgart, you are sure to find the pig you like the most.
The sauna in the SchweineMuseum
Sweating like a pig?
Where does this phrase come from? Because pigs actually don’t sweat. Guests who visit the Sauna room may find an explanation...
Come and visit us in person for more info!
Set across an exhibition space of more than 800 square meters, you can experience curious, interesting, fascinating and amazing things about pigs. The 29 themed rooms divide this unique exhibition into different areas: From lucky pigs to piggy backs to valuable, antique collector’s items, the Pig Museum in Stuttgart has everything worth knowing and admiring about the bristly animal. More than 2,000 of a total of 5,000 piggy banks, the Divine Pig, or the Portrait Gallery.
