Offenbach was a centre for leather manufacturing until WWII ended and the leather industry vanished, leaving behind only this museum as evidence of its existence. Be not fooled by the moniker German leather museum, for it’s this museum’s international exhibitions that are its greatest provision. The downstairs collection of shoes spans over 3,000 years of walking pleasure (or displeasure from the looks of some of the models on display.) Naturally the history of leathercraft is explored, with items ranging from saddles to bookbinding, as well as an exhaustive exhibition of photo albums, leather fashion, furniture for home and office, games, toys, etc. However, it is the non-European exhibitions that prove most fascinating, a display of ethnology that one wouldn’t think of encountering in such a museum. An exhibition of the Inuit Indians and original cowboys is a superlative piece of North American history. Another fantastic attraction is the Asian shadow puppet collection and samurai collection, whose armour, weapons, and saddles in iron and leather are the museum’s showpiece collection. Equally impressive is the collection of huts from West Africa and the Sahara, tribal clothing and weaponry, as well as some history of colonialism in Africa.