North German Nativity Museum
 The Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Güstrow is the seat of the North German Nativity Museum. |
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| Data | |
|---|---|
| place |
Güstrow , Heiligengeisthof 5 
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| Art |
Church building
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| opening | 2007 |
| Number of visitors (annually) | 5000 to 7000 (average 2009/2010) |
| operator |
Christmas cribs in the Holy Spirit - Mechthild and Dr. Rudolf Ringguth Foundation
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| Website | |
The North German Nativity Scene Museum in the Heilig-Geist-Kirche in Güstrow has been showing nativity scenes from all over the world in a permanent exhibition since 2007 . The museum show is supplemented by special exhibitions, for which, for example, private individuals make their cribs available on loan.
Collection basis
Mechthild Ringguth from Hamburg has collected Christmas cribs in around 70 countries for over 40 years. The collection includes around 690 nativity scenes from all continents, around 100 of which can be seen in the permanent exhibition. Most of the nativity scenes are commissioned works, made by local artists who have designed the Christmas story with local materials and with their artistry and their own Christian beliefs. The variety of shapes, materials, sizes and designs is also very interesting from an ethnological point of view and underlines the uniqueness and value of this collection.
The Museum Hedwig Steffler from Münster donated further nativity scenes for the exhibition after the opening.
The museum is operated by the Christmas cribs in Heilig Geist - Mechthild and Dr. Rudolf Ringguth Foundation , which was established for the purpose of exhibiting and preserving the collection.
Brief history of the Holy Spirit Church
The church building was built as a city hospital and nursing home in the brick Gothic style and was first mentioned in 1308 as a hospital foundation. Between 1451 and 1466 the church received a bell from the Mecklenburg bell founder Clawes Duncker, which since the end of the 20th century has not been able to ring freely for static reasons . It was used as a church from 1524. A year later, the first Lutheran service in Güstrow was celebrated in this building. The Holy Spirit Church served as a chapel for the state workhouse in Güstrow Castle from 1824 to 1945 . It was a chapel for the Güstrow community until 1973, before it had to be closed due to dilapidation in the same year.
After German reunification and the re-establishment of federal states, funds were available for an extensive renovation of the church. This took place from 2005 to 2007 and has since been the exhibition site for the Nativity Museum, which opened in December 2007. It ties in with a previous tradition from Güstrow, when in 1993 the first exhibition of private Christmas cribs took place in Haus am Markt 25 , which could then be repeated annually.
Web links
- Homepage of the museum
- Literature about the North German Nativity Museum in the state bibliography MV
- ZDF: On the way to the crib Ev. Service from the North German Nativity Museum in Güstrow on December 20, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ Number of visitors below expectations on www.svz.de, accessed on August 14, 2020.
- ↑ a b Güstrower Krippenmuseum shows exhibits from private people on www.nordkirche.de, accessed on August 14, 2020.
- ↑ a b Flyer: North German Crib Museum , as of 2019/2020.
- ↑ The old bell of Heiliggeist in Güstrow at www.stadtgeschichte-guestrow.de, accessed on February 10, 2017.