Angel Museum

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The Angel Museum ( Engl. "Angel Museum") in Beloit , Wisconsin according to their own figures, more than 6,000 angels alongside another 6000 in the home of curator Joyce Berg.

history

The history of the museum goes back to 1995, when the curator Joyce Berg could not find space for more angels in her house and therefore started looking for a new exhibition building. At the same time the demolition of the Catholic Church of St. Paul in Beloit was planned to make way for new buildings. With the help of hundreds of local supporters, Joyce Berg was able to convert the church into a museum, so the church was saved by the angels, according to Joyce Berg. The museum opened on May 1, 1998.

The museum

The museum is located in the former St. Paul's Catholic Church , for which the city council collects an annual rent of $ 1. The building impresses with its remarkable glass windows and two concrete angels in front of the entrance door, each weighing 45 kg. It is arguably the largest private collection of angel figures: the collection was listed in the Guinness Book of Records in 2001 and had 13,406 exhibits in July 2006. The curator occasionally wears an angel costume including a halo and wings on special occasions.

The museum is also known for the Black Angel Collection . These are more than 1000 angels donated by Oprah Winfrey after she asked on her 1998 television show why there were no dark-skinned angels. Shortly afterwards, she received angel figures from all over the country, which she finally donated to the Angel Museum . There are also other donors: In 2006 there were more than 1000 donations, some even in the form of a memorial. The angels come from more than 60 countries. Some of them are tiny and sometimes more than larger than life. In addition to porcelain, glass, copper and acrylic, some angels are made from sheepskin, corn on the cob, tree roots and even spaghetti.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Patrice M. Jones: Angels in action . In: Chicago Tribune , August 1, 2006. 
  2. ↑ Christine Des Garennes: Great Little Museums of the Midwest . Trails, 2002, ISBN 978-1-931599-08-5 , pp. 12-13.
  3. ↑ a b Carrie Antlfinger: Angels on Earth: By Housing World's Largest Angel Museum, Church Spared Destruction . In: Lakeland Ledger , December 12, pp. D3, D5. 
  4. ^ A b Angel Museum, Beloit, Wisconsin , Doug Kirby, www.roadsideamerica.com. Retrieved May 14, 2014. 
  5. ↑ Odds and Ends: Beloit, Wis. . In: Ellensburg Daily Record , August 21, 2001, p. 8. 
  6. ↑ Thomas Huhti: Moon Wisconsin . Avalon Travel, 2014, ISBN 978-1-61238-711-6 , p. 123.
  7. ^ Oprah's angels to Beloit museum . In: The Fort Scott Tribune , February 1, 1997, p. 6. 
  8. ↑ Eric Grzymkowski: The United States of Strange: 1,001 Frightening, Bizarre, Outrageous Facts About the Land of the Free and the Home of the Frog People, the Cockroach Hall of Fame, and Carhenge . Adams Media, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4405-3614-4 , p. 154.
  9. ↑ Frances Schindler: An Angel at My Side: Surviving Leukemia Through Love . Writers Club Press, San Jose, California 2001, ISBN 978-0-595-17599-4 , p. 139.

Coordinates: 42 ° 30 '10.4 "  N , 89 ° 1' 58.7"  W.