"1250 Jahre Westfalen" in more than 80 locations
The LWL-Kulturstiftung and the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) look back on several hundred events and numerous cultural highlights in the anniversary year “1250 Jahre Westfalen”.
Cultural and thematic diversity
Exhibitions, stage shows, crossover projects, events on building culture, film, regional studies, literature, music as well as hands-on offers and podcasts formed the cultural program for the anniversary year "1250 Jahre Westfalen".
Large museums, cultural offices and professional initiatives, as well as volunteer-run associations, brought concerts, readings, exhibitions, stage shows and workshops to the region’s towns and communities in around 90 collaborations.
It dealt with self-perception and the perception of others, identity, origin, belonging, attitude towards life and the future. Cultural practitioners, associations and institutions highlighted events and personalities that have shaped Westphalia’s history in events and programs and provided impetus for current and future challenges in the region with current artistic positions.
The Westphalians were first mentioned in a report in the Frankish imperial annals in 775. In 2025, the LWL-Kulturstiftung honored this anniversary with a cultural program for the anniversary year “1250 Jahre Westfalen”.
In brief
Figures
- 44 Cultural projects
- 3 million euros in funding
- More than 500 events in Westphalia-Lippe
- Over 100,000 visitors and 70,000 people interested in digital offerings
- more than 80 locations in the region
Special features
- Central exhibition 775-Westphalia at LWL-Museum in der Kaiserpfalz
- The patron was Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
- third and largest funding priority of the LWL-Kulturstiftung
- Sparkasse Münsterland Ost Foundation supported selected projects in Münster and the Warendorf district
Publications of the LWL-Kulturstiftung
- Program booklet for the cultural program
- “Exactly! Westphalia” The podcast for the anniversary year
- kultur.west special “1250 Jahre Westfalen”
Publications and online offerings
1250 Jahre Westfalen
Podcast
Online
Exactly! Westphalia! The podcast for the anniversary year “1250 years of Westphalia”
44 "1250 Jahre Westfalen" projects
700 years of Vorstenburg!
Förderkreis Fürstenberg e.V., Bad Wünnenberg
775 – Westphalia. The exhibition
LWL-Museum in der Kaiserpfalz, Paderborn
aboutLife – between dinosaurs and scale trees
LWL Museum of Natural History. Westphalian State Museum with Planetarium, Münster
Baddabäm!
Reset e.V., Münster
Battle of Brunsberg – The dawn of a new era
Huxarium Garden Park Höxter
Blind Spots – A series of events in memory of the former displaced persons in Westphalia-Lippe
City of Haltern am See, Department of City Agency, Haltern am See in cooperation with the artist Katja Kottmann
Breaking down time boundaries – literature in dialog with literature
Enger Tannery Museum Association, Enger
Change of signs – 50 years of regional reform in Münsterland
Cultural office of the Münsterland e.V., Greven
Citizens collect for Westphalia. 200 years of the antiquities society
Association for the History and Classical Studies of Westphalia, Münster and Paderborn Departments
Corvey Monastery Church World Heritage Site – Building history: Presentation of the new research findings
LWL monument preservation, landscape and building culture in Westphalia
East Westphalia Review
Culture barn 1A, Bad Wünnenberg
Exactly! Westphalia!
LWL Culture Department together with LWL-Kulturstiftung, Münster
HABITAT – What’s in the pot – Westphalia rethought and rediscovered
Schnibbelbohne e.V., Steinfurt
Incredible. Encounters with the saint
RELíGIO - Westphalian Museum for Religious Culture, Telgte
Jazz Jumelage – Westphalian Resonances
Förderer der Wald und Wiesen Kultur e.V., Münster
Jew’s beech and beyond
Burg Hülshoff - Center for Literature (CfL), Havixbeck
LANDSTRICHE. Westphalian Poetry Parcours
Kulturgut Haus Nottbeck, Museum of Westphalian Literature, Oelde
LWL Cultural Scholarships 2025: New impulses from the independent scene for Westphalia-Lippe
LWL Culture Department, Münster
Making a home in a changing society
Westfälischer Heimatbund e. V., Münster
Monasteries shape Westphalia. In the past and present
Society of Friends of Music of Marienmünster Abbey e.V., Marienmünster
Music & Art Worlds – 1250 Jahre Westfalen
Kulturverein Westfalen e.V., Holzwickede
New Westphalia: Histories, cultures and aesthetics of the Sinte*zze and Rom*nja in Westphalia-Lippe
save space e.V., Cologne
Not a Reckenland, but a Reckenland … Images of Westphalia in literature
Association for the promotion of drama, literature and language Münster
Old work & new nature. The Hansa coking plant as a place of transformation
Fritz Hüser Institute for Literature and Culture in the World of Work, Dortmund
Once upon a time in Westphalia. An animated film on 1250 years of Westphalia
LWL Media Center for Westphalia, Münster
Poetica Westfalia!
Kaspershof gUG, Bad Salzuflen
Pull yourselves up! Jewish activists from Westphalia in the first women’s movement
Jewish Museum of Westphalia, Dorsten
Screenplay History: Filmwelt Westfalen. Stories of a region
Summer Nightsongs 2025
Dalheim Monastery Foundation. LWL State Museum for Monastery Culture, Lichtenau
SUSPENSION
Kunstverein Arnsberg e.V., Arnsberg
The Baroness
Friends and supporters of the cultural centers Burg Vischering and Kolvenburg e.V., Coesfeld
The future of villages in Westphalia-Lippe
Geographical Commission for Westphalia, Münster
The invention of Westphalia – Bernhard Witte’s Historia Westphaliae and the Liesborn Monastery around 1500
Liesborn Abbey Museum of the District of Warendorf, Wadersloh
The night of the dead poets
Fiktiver Alltag e.V., Münster in cooperation with Thomas Nufer
Untold Stories – Unknown story(s) told
LWL Institute for Westphalian Regional History, Münster
Werner Ruhnau. Building for the open society
Baukunstarchiv NRW gGmbH, Düsseldorf
Westphalia builds culture
WESTFALEN BAUEN KULTUR e.V., Münster
Westphalia Side Story
Human: Theater! - unterwegs e.V., Kappelrodek in cooperation with bodytalk, Münster
Westphalia worldwide – 1250 years on tour
Die Weberei (Bürgerkiez gGmbH), Gütersloh
Westphalian bubble word course – literary-sporty camp for children
OWL Literature Office in Detmold e.V., Detmold
Westphalian name day – 1250 years: Westphalia celebrates its birthday – we celebrate name day
Westfalen e.V., Hamm in cooperation with Stiftung Westfalen-Initiative für Eigenverantwortung und Gemeinwohl, Münster
Westphalian Poetry Slam
Vorlesebande e. V., Paderborn
WIDUKIND – The opera
Friends of the Widukind Museum Enger e.V., Enger
With heart, hand and mind – Democratic life in the Sauerland
Sauerland Museum of the Hochsauerland District, Arnsberg
Press material
1250 years of Westphalia, Press release
Summer in the anniversary year “1250 years of Westphalia”
Contacts, downloads and FAQ
Corinna Grundmann
- General foundation business & project consulting
- corinna.grundmann@lwl-kulturstiftung.de
- +49 251 591-7658
Jonas Koch
- General foundation business & project consulting
- jonas.koch@lwl-kulturstiftung.de
- +49 251 591-5084
Lina Kumpmann
- Social Media
- lina.kumpmann@lwl-kulturstiftung.de
- +49 251 591-7591
Anja Tomasoni
- Press and public relations
- anja.tomasoni@lwl-kulturstiftung.de
- +49 251 591-6929
FAQ: Are there still events in 2026?
Individual events such as exhibitions will continue until spring 2026. All information can be found in our calendar or on the information page for the respective project.
