March 13, 2026, 4:32 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
Near the community of Bispingen in the Lüneburg Heath stands Iserhatsche, a truly unique “amusement park.” It was built by a now-deceased private citizen from Berlin. On an area of 23 hectares, he gathered an incredible assortment of quirky items from around the world and realized numerous other unconventional projects. TRAVELBOOK introduces this unusual place.
Did you know that you could witness a volcanic eruption in the Lüneburg Heath? And that even hourly, without being in the slightest danger? Well, admittedly, it’s not a real volcano, yet it’s a genuine attraction in perhaps the craziest “amusement park” in all of Germany. On a 23-hectare area known as Iserhatsche, a now-deceased Berlin artist created a truly bizarre wonderland over decades near the community of Bispingen. Anyone who enters it is left in awe and amusement.
First, let’s explain the name of the place, Iserhatsche. According to “NDR,” it is borrowed from Low German and means “Iron Heart.” Its story begins in 1910 when a Berlin commercial councilor discovered a villa in the style of a Swedish wooden house at the World’s Fair in Brussels. He promptly bought it and had it rebuilt near Bispingen, where it still stands today. The name Iserhatsche was given to the area by his mother. In 1923, the tobacco company Reemtsma bought the site and used it as a retreat for its employees until 1962. Afterward, it became a school camp for children from Berlin for more than two decades. In 1986, the private citizen Uwe Schulz-Ebschbach purchased it. He began to combine various ideas and private collecting passions into a truly unique style mix.
150 Quirky Collections
Visitors first move through the 230,000-square-meter landscape park, which includes an artificial landscape of terraced lakes. Here, there is also a “mountain” built by Schulz-Ebschbach himself, the Montagnetto. Its other name, “Mountain of Collecting Passion,” only gives an inadequate hint of what guests can expect inside. According to the official Iserhatsche website, it houses the world’s largest collection of beer bottle varieties, even listed in the Guinness Book of Records. It includes more than 24,000 still-originally filled beer bottles from 192 countries and 4,100 different breweries.
Want more examples? How about a matchbox collection with an incredible 250,000 items? You’ll find it here, along with a collection of coffee cream lids totaling 25,000 pieces. Additionally, there are 12,000 bottle openers, more than 50,000 miniature liquor bottles, 22,000 owls, nearly 30,000 frogs, 300 ship-in-bottles, and countless other quirky items. In total, Iserhatsche houses 150 collections of this kind, including the world’s largest swing-top beer bottle made of wood, weighing more than five tons. If all this is a bit overwhelming, you can watch the eruption of the artificial volcano built by Schulz-Ebschbach in the outdoor area of the Montagnetto once an hour.
You Can Also Get Married Here
And of course, you can also visit Iserhatsche itself, the eponymous wooden villa. Here, guests are greeted with stunning splendor, such as in the “Fireplace Trophy Room,” the “Diana Sanssouci Room,” or the “Four Seasons Oak Hall.” All rooms are inspired by different eras of art history. The former library is now a Hall of Mirrors in the Versailles style. You can not only visit it but also get married there. It serves as an outpost of the Bispingen registry office. Other rooms on the Iserhatsche grounds can also be rented for celebrations.
If you want to see all this with your own eyes, you have the opportunity annually from April to December. The exact opening hours vary depending on the season; you can find them on the official website. If you wish, you can also take a guided tour of the grounds. According to Bispingen Touristik e.V., it is currently unclear how and if it will continue after the death of Iserhatsche “inventor” Uwe Schulz-Ebschbach, as stated in response to a TRAVELBOOK inquiry. Let’s hope that this unusual place will be preserved for future visitors.