A brick building, a Linotype typesetting machine, a working playing card factory—the warehouse on Katharinenberg in Stralsund’s Old Town is at once a cultural venue, a workshop, and a community space open to everyone.
In Stralsund’s Old Town stands an old brick building that once stored grain. Today, the SPEICHER on Katharinenberg houses something else: encounters, craftsmanship, culture, and the belief that a building can be there for everyone.
On the ground floor, the machines are running. Anyone who enters here hears the clatter of the Linotype typesetting machine, sees the presses—weighing several metric tons—from the playing card factory, and watches as lead letters form lines—and lines become print. The museum workshop is not just a display piece: work is carried out on the historic machines every day. The cultural heritage of letterpress printing lives on here not behind glass in a display case, but in the hands of those who pass it on.
There’s more to it than nostalgia. Apprentices, those gaining entry-level qualifications, people performing community service, and workshop staff work here together—without it being obvious who plays which role. That’s the concept: inclusion that doesn’t need to be explained, but simply happens.
SPEICHER is accessible, open, and well-connected—to Stralsund’s Old Town, to neighborhoods like Grünhufe and Knieper West, and to workshops, concerts, and events that come and go. A cultural hub that isn’t waiting for itself, but for you.
Anyone who’d like to can try out the Linotype typesetting machine for themselves—every first Saturday of the month.
