Inaugurated on May 9th 1967, the museum, run by the Association des Amis du musée de Pétrole de Merkwiller-Pechelbronn aims to keep the memory of what was for centuries the main activity in the North of Alsace.
Comprising mainly documents, photos, models, exhibits and oil equipment, the museum records 500 years in the history of the Pays de Pechelbronn by dealing with :
the origin of oil, the geology of the Rhine region, the mining of sand oils, the mining by drilling and pumping, refining
The showing of a video-cassette lasting 20 minutes follows or precedes the visit of the two exhibition rooms. The visits are always accompanied (in French, German, English) and last about 90 minutes.