Burg on Fehmarn: Culture, Churches and Walking Tours

During a stay in Burg on Fehmarn, you can explore a range of cultural themes: the town’s history and church history, the island’s past, and the work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The Fehmarn Museum and the Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Documentation Centre are located in Burg; there is also an audio-guided walking tour of the town and historical guided tours.

Town and Church Tours in Burg

Historical town and church tours of St. Nikolai Church and the 800-year-old town of Burg are also on the Fehmarn Tourism Service events programme for 2026. The approximately 90-minute tour starts at the Fehmarn Museum in Burg, Breite Straße 49. Another option is the official audio-guided walking tour: it takes you through the historic old town, covers just under 3 kilometres and takes about 35 minutes. Stops include the town hall, the historic Senator-Thomsen-Haus, St. Jürgen Chapel, the Fehmarn Museum and St. Nikolai Church. This gives you the choice of a guided tour or an audio guide with named stops. Check the date of the town and church tour in advance.

Churches and Chapel: Architecture and History

St. Nikolai Church is a Gothic brick church built between 1230 and 1250. It houses an impressive late-Gothic wooden altarpiece divided horizontally. St. Jürgen Chapel offers a different perspective on history: it was originally built outside the town walls as a plague chapel for people with leprosy and other infectious diseases. During the season, Friedel Beck offers a roughly half-hour guided tour or talk about the chapel’s history every other Monday at 5 p.m. The 2026 seasonal programme also includes dates. If you are planning to attend, it is worth checking the date of the event. The two sites offer distinct points of interest: St. Nikolai focuses on architecture and furnishings, while St. Jürgen tells the story of the chapel’s former function.

Fehmarn Museum and Kirchner Documentation Centre

The Fehmarn Museum is located in Burg in the island’s oldest house, the former Pastors’ Widows’ House dating from 1581. Across 23 exhibition rooms, it presents exhibits on Fehmarn’s geological history, the island’s eventful past, traditional crafts, the importance of guilds, and seafaring, fishing and hunting. Its broad range of topics spans everything from nature and island history to crafts and maritime subjects. The Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Documentation Centre in Burg focuses on something different. It displays full-size reproductions of important paintings, historical photographs, reproductions of sketchbooks, and information about the artist’s life and work. Here, the focus is on a single artist, while the museum brings together different chapters of the island’s history.

In Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Footsteps

Another way to explore Kirchner’s work is the “In Kirchner’s Footsteps” walking trail. It leads through Burg, following the Expressionist’s footsteps and connecting places where he worked with recognisable motifs from his paintings of Fehmarn. While the documentation centre displays reproductions, photographs and sketchbooks, the walking trail draws attention to places and motifs in the town. The two offerings therefore differ not only in format: the documentation centre focuses on Kirchner’s life and work, while the trail highlights the places where he worked and the recognisable motifs from Fehmarn. Together with the church and museum exhibits, these give you several specific ways to plan your stay in Burg around your cultural interests.

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View the main travel overview: Fehmarn.