Heimatverein Oedt e.V. – The Association Behind Burg Uda

Burg Uda is a listed monument open to the public – but it is not a state museum. That visitors can enter the tower at all, climb its 123 steps and see the finds in the display cases is the result of voluntary work. It is carried by the Heimatverein Oedt e.V., a local heritage association that has looked after the site for decades, offers guided tours and runs the museum in the town.

Anyone interested in the castle should therefore know the association. Without it, the tower would be a locked building in the Niers meadows.

The association in figures

Voluntary work with long continuity

1947

Year of foundation

570

Members (approx.)

1st

Prize in the NRW Heimat-Preis 2024

21

Editions of the local yearbook (2026)

Founded in 1947

The Heimatverein Oedt e.V. was founded in 1947 – two years after the end of the war, at a time when much on the Lower Rhine lay in ruins and much was uncertain. Heritage associations founded in this period had a similar task everywhere: to secure what remained of local tradition, and to give a community a shared point of reference again.

In Oedt that point of reference was obvious. After the demolition of 1757 only the south-eastern round tower remained of the once powerful moated castle – a remnant, but an unmissable one. When the municipality of Oedt bought the castle in 1955 and the first restoration work began in 1957, the association was already eight years old.

With around 570 members it is today among the largest heritage associations in the region – a remarkable proportion in a district of a few thousand inhabitants.

NRW Heimat-Preis 2024: first prize

In 2024 the Heimatverein Oedt e.V. was awarded first prize in the Heimat-Preis of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state awards this prize for outstanding voluntary commitment to local heritage.

For the association the award is more than a certificate. It confirms that decades of largely unspectacular work – tower duty on Sundays, guided tours, museum shifts, mowing, research, editing – is recognised as a cultural achievement. For Burg Uda it means visibility beyond the county of Viersen.

What the association does

Four fields of work around the castle and the town

The castle tower

Opening the tower from April to October on Sundays, 11 am to 5 pm. The association provides supervision, maintains the site and looks after the display cases with the archaeological finds on the six levels.

Guided tours

Public tours on the first Saturday of each month at 2 pm, no booking required. Tours for school classes and groups by arrangement.

Heimatmuseum Oedt

Care of the collection in the basement of the former Villa Girmes. Open on the first Sunday of each month, 2 to 5 pm, February to December. Admission free.

Events

The Burgspektakulum medieval festival in early June, the Open Monument Day on the second Sunday in September, and further dates through the year.

Das Üdsche Heimatblättsche

For more than two decades the association has published an annual local yearbook: „Das Üdsche Heimatblättsche“, in 2026 in its 21st edition. The title is Lower Rhine dialect and means simply „the little Oedt paper".

For research on Burg Uda this series is the single most important source. It collects essays on local history, eyewitness accounts, documentation and photographs – precisely the detailed knowledge that appears in no national publication and that would otherwise disappear with the generations. Anyone wanting to know more about Oedt and the castle than the outline cannot avoid these volumes.

Membership and contact

The association finances the upkeep of the castle to a considerable extent from membership fees and donations. Anyone wishing to support the preservation of the site is best advised to contact the association directly – it is also the right contact for group tours, event dates and questions about local history.

Contacting the Heimatverein Oedt e.V.

Telephone: +49 2158 5273 or +49 2158 5376
Website: www.heimatverein-oedt.de
Address of the castle: Zur Burg Uda, 47929 Grefrath-Oedt, Germany

Not yet documented

We have no reliable information on the following points; they are expressly marked as open:

• Circumstances and founding members of 1947
• Current composition of the board
• Amount of the membership fee
• Register court and association register number
• Complete index of the yearbook volumes

Sources and status

The statements draw on publicly available information from the Heimatverein Oedt e.V. and on the local history of Oedt. This website is a private information project and is not operated by the Heimatverein Oedt e.V. All statements about the association are descriptive and without warranty; only the association itself can give binding information.

Last updated: August 2026

Read on

The work of the association in context

Visiting

Opening hours & directions

Tower, museum, tours and events: all dates and how to get there.

Plan your visit

Building

The Villa Girmes

Manufacturer's villa, town hall, museum – three lives of one house.

To the villa

History

700 years of Burg Uda

From the foundation around 1300 to the restoration completed in 2013.

To the history