The Kriminalmuseum on Burggasse is one of the most unusual museums in Bavaria and, depending on your disposition, either fascinating or deeply unsettling — ideally both. Three floors of the old building are filled with the instruments and documentary record of medieval justice and punishment: shame masks, iron maidens, chastity belts, thumbscrews, ducking stools, pillories, and a comprehensive collection of devices designed to humiliate, torture, and execute. The museum takes its subject seriously, placing the objects in the context of medieval law rather than treating them purely as spectacle.
What makes it more than a chamber of horrors is the legal history. There are documents, codices, and court records showing how these instruments were used — who was sentenced to what, for which offences, by whose authority. The progression from brutal medieval punishment toward (relatively) more codified legal systems is traced through the exhibits. It is one of the few places where you can see a complete set of medieval torture instruments alongside the actual legal framework that authorised their use.
Allow at least an hour. The museum is on Burggasse, a short walk south from the Marktplatz. Entrance costs around €8 for adults. Children tend to find it either gripping or deeply memorable, sometimes both simultaneously.