Lake Constance Museum

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The Bodensee Museum was a museum for the history and natural history of the Lake Constance area , which existed in Friedrichshafen from 1869 to 1944 and was initially supported by the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , and from 1927 by the city of Friedrichshafen.

History of the collection

1869 to 1879

In October 1868, friends of history from the then five countries bordering Lake Constance founded the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings, among them Hans von und zu Aufseß , the founder of the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg . In 1869, the active members of the association began to build up a collection of antiquities and natural history objects of all kinds related to Lake Constance and its shoreline. The collection was shown in an apartment at Kronenstrasse 201 (later Karlstrasse 9), for which King Karl von Württemberg paid for the rent ; It had three main focuses: firstly, a historical-geographical section with maps, city plans, pictures and photographs, coats of arms and seals, coins and documents from Lake Constance; second, an archaeological section with finds from the Neolithic and Bronze Age pile construction stations at Überlinger See and third, a geological section with rock samples from Upper Swabia.

1879 to 1912

In the summer of 1879 the collection moved to the ground floor of the former Hotel Bellevue (Friedrichstrasse 65). The first more precise description of their installation dates from this time. The prehistoric section was now expanded to include Palaeolithic finds from the Kesslerloch , Neolithic finds from Schussenried and a wooden disc wheel from a peat cut near Aulendorf . Petrifications from Öhningen were added to the rock collection , as well as stuffed birds, mussel shells, stuffed fish and butterflies pickled in alcohol. Oil paintings, glass paintings and sculptures are mentioned on art objects, floor tiles, baking models, items of clothing, weapons and coins on everyday objects. One of the responsible association officials, the Constance pharmacist and museum founder Ludwig Leiner , criticized the exhibition as an unsystematic and unappealingly presented mess. Nevertheless, the museum seems to have attracted numerous visitors, to which the beginning of Lake Constance tourism contributed.

1912 to 1944

The mayor of Lindau , Heinrich Schützinger , has been campaigning for a fundamental renovation of the museum since 1906 as the association's president and campaigned for the project among political decision-makers in Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden. The Friedrichshafen city school governor Adolf Mayer provided rooms in the former camera office (or "Kreuzlinger Hof"), a mighty building erected in 1735 as a tithe barn on the corner of Karlstrasse-Schanzstrasse, the renovation of which the city of Friedrichshafen participated in; the rent was taken over by King Wilhelm II of Württemberg . The members of the association provided diverse support: The Ravensburger factory owner and geologist Friedrich Krauss arranged and added to the rock collection; the Konstanzer Kommerzienrat Gustav Prym supported the purchase of exhibits with donations and credits; Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin contributed mementos from the early days of airship construction. The renovation was led by the architect Georg Baumeister, who had previously planned the new building for the Vorarlberg State Museum in Bregenz .

On July 8, 1912, the new Lake Constance Museum was opened in the presence of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg. On the ground floor, a model of a pile dwelling village as well as objects from the pile dwellings and Roman sites were shown, on the first floor a collection of weapons, early modern works of art, natural objects (animal specimens, rocks and fossils), the zeppelin room with parts of the first zeppelin airship, the model of a floating zeppelin shipyard as well as related pictures by Erwin Emerich and Zeno Diemer , traditional costumes and liturgical vestments, stone carvings, a renaissance parlor, documents, seals and coins, pewter dishes, pictures and objects from the early days of steam shipping. The association's map collection and library were located on the second floor.

The First World War and its aftermath prevented further development of the museum. Care was provided by a servant whose remuneration consisted of the fact that he was allowed to live in the house and keep part of the entrance fees. The association did not have the funds for acquisitions or professional museum work, especially after losing its assets during the inflationary period . The well-known Überlingen restorer Victor Mezger the Elder , who led the Bodensee-Geschichtsverein in the interwar period, therefore sold the collection to the city of Friedrichshafen, which continued it as the “Städtisches Museum” from January 12, 1927. During the Allied air raid on Friedrichshafen on April 28, 1944, the house and the collection were completely burned.

effect

The possibilities of the Lake Constance Museum, largely supported by voluntary work, have always been limited. Nevertheless, at times it must have met the expectations of its visitors well. In the early years it influenced the development of municipal collections on Lake Constance, which were set up by leading members of the Bodensee History Association: the Konstanzer Rosgarten Museum (1870) by Ludwig Leiner, the Überlinger Antiquities Collection (municipal museum in the Reichlin-von-Meldegg-Haus since 1913 ) by Theodor Lachmann , the collection of the Lindau Museum Association ( Stadtmuseum Lindau since 1930) by Gustav Reinwald . After the Second World War, the Städtisches Bodensee-Museum Friedrichshafen (1957) and the Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen (1996) continued the tradition of the Bodensee Museum.

The custodians

  • 1869–1876: Hermann Haas, chief customs administrator, Friedrichshafen
  • 1877–1879: Ferdinand Zuppinger, manufacturer, Friedrichshafen
  • 1880–1885: Hermann Lanz, businessman, Friedrichshafen
  • 1885–1903: Gustav Breunlin, businessman, Friedrichshafen
  • 1903–1919: Carl Breunlin, businessman, Friedrichshafen
  • 1920–1927: Wilhelm Friedrich Laur , architect, state curator for Hohenzollern, Friedrichshafen

literature

  • Michael Holzmann: Museum tradition in Friedrichshafen. The old Bodensee Museum . In: Lutz Tittel (Ed.): 25 years of the art collection at the Städtisches Bodensee-Museum Friedrichshafen 1957–1982 . Friedrichshafen 1982, pp. 6-19.
  • Harald Derschka : The association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings. A look back at one hundred and fifty years of club history 1868–2018. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 136, 2018, pp. 1–303, here: pp. 46–53, pp. 86–91, pp. 127–129, p. 158 f.
  • Jürgen Oellers: The beginnings of the museum landscape on Lake Constance. The collection of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings . In: Harald Derschka, Jürgen Klöckler (Hrsg.): Der Bodensee. Nature and history from 150 perspectives. Anniversary volume of the international association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings 1868–2018. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2018, pp. 196–197.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harald Derschka: The association for the history of Lake Constance and its surroundings. A look back at one hundred and fifty years of club history 1868–2018. In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 136, 2018, pp. 1–303, here: pp. 50–52.
  2. ^ Heinrich Schützinger: preliminary report . In: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings . Volume 42, 1913, pp. III-XV, here especially pp. V-XI ( digitized version ).