electrum

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electrum in Harburg

The electrum - The Museum of Electricity in Hamburg is a museum that deals with the history of electricity and the use of electricity, especially since the beginning of electrification until the recent past.

Originating from a collection of the Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werken (HEW), it was located in the Barmbek-Süd district until it closed in 2001 and was one of the largest museums in this area in the German-speaking region.

In 2011 the museum was reopened on a smaller scale in Hamburg-Harburg .

history

For training in the company and for study purposes, the first beginnings of a collection were created in the 1920s and in 1964, for the 70th anniversary of HEW, the museum with an exhibition hall in an old transformer station at Klinikweg 23 was opened. After almost two years of renovation, the HEW Museum was reopened in 1979 and was given the name electrum, made up of the words electron and museum. The focus of the exhibition, which was initially related to the company, was the early onset of electrification and city history. With the continuously expanded collection, the areas of application of electricity in the household and trade, as well as in the port, were added. Until it was closed, the electrum was with over 50,000 visitors a year, in second place for museums not run by the Hanseatic city, after the German Customs Museum (according to other sources up to or over 60,000 visitors).

Exhibits and exhibitions until 2001

The electrum in Barmbek showed - with free entry - a collection of electrical devices from different eras. These included electrifying devices (including from the 18th century), steam engines with generators, DC motors and arc lamps , the first electric motor of a harbor crane , but also many household appliances from electric irons to the first electric drill. In addition, the electrum exhibited numerous historical radio and television sets, as well as a fully functional Zuse Z6 computer. Functional models, experiments ("floating frying pan") and films completed the show.

Special exhibitions were dedicated to individual artists, often from the field of media art, or more extensive subject areas. For example, in the special show "The story of the news - the news of history" (1989), a small newspaper was created every day at an editorial workstation that was set up in the museum.

Exhibiting artists (selection)

  • Walter Giers (1990)
  • Klaus Geldmacher : Light and Sound Objects (1991)
  • Peter Vogel (1994)
  • Gvoon Arthur Schmidt: The Untouchable Painting (1996)
  • Frank Fietzek: Interactive Installations (1997)

closure

After the operator announced that he would close the electrum for cost reasons, an association of employees and friends of the museum was formed. However, the association did not achieve its goal of continuing to operate the facility independently: At the end of 2001, operations were closed. The exhibits are now stored in a depot of HEW's successor Vattenfall Europe in Hamburg-Bramfeld and sometimes loaned to other museums for exhibitions. A steam storage locomotive from 1911, which was in front of the museum from 1985, was donated to the Geesthacht Railway Working Group and transferred to Geesthacht in March 2003. In the years after its closure, there were repeated considerations to integrate the electrum into the planned Science Center Hamburg in HafenCity .

The electrum in Harburg (since 2011)

In 2010, the owner Vattenfall Europe made the basement of his office building at Harburger Schloßstraße 1, which was previously used as a restaurant, available for the museum, where 6000 exhibits (10,000 in total) and special exhibitions can be presented on 530 square meters of exhibition space.

After renovation and furnishing, the electrums reopened on April 16, 2011 for the Long Night of Museums in Hamburg with the special exhibition Hörstrom - Music and entertainment devices yesterday and today - a fascinating journey through time from the first music box to the music center. The museum, which is now run on a voluntary basis by the friends' association, can be visited as part of a guided tour after making an appointment by telephone and is open every Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Publications

electrum, The Museum of Electricity , publisher: Hamburger Electricitäts-Werke AG, 70 pages, catalog, Hamburg, undated.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ KULTURbox.de: electrum - The Museum of Electricity, accessed on July 13, 2010
  2. ^ Kurt Dröge / Detlef Hoffmann : Museum revisited: transdisciplinary perspectives on an institution in transition . transcript-Verlag, Bielefeld 2010, p. 26.
  3. ^ Hamburger Abendblatt dated September 28, 1979: HEW Museum "electrum" at the Hamburger Strasse subway station
  4. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt dated February 27, 2010, comment: The museum is very welcome ( Memento of the original dated May 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.abendblatt.de
  5. ↑ On hansemarkt.de - electrum - Das Museum der Elektrizität eV, accessed on July 13, 2010 ( Memento of the original from June 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hansemarkt.de
  6. ↑ Walter Giers: Solo exhibitions ( Memento of the original from August 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.walter-giers.de
  7. ↑ Peter Vogel: Vita
  8. ↑ Gvoon Arthur Schmidt: Performances Electrum 1996
  9. ^ Frank Fietzek: Vita
  10. ^ Geesthacht Railway Working Group: Steam storage locomotive O&K 4959 (B-fl)
  11. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt from January 31, 2005
  12. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt dated February 27, 2010: The Electrum is awakening to new life in Harburg - the museum electrifies the inland port ( Memento of the original dated May 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.abendblatt.de
  13. ↑ Harburger advertisements and news from April 18, 2011: The first street lighting ( Memento of the original from June 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.han-online.de
  14. ↑ electrum at Long Night of Museums 2011 ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.langenachtdermuseen-hamburg.de
  15. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt dated March 30, 2011: Hamburg's Museum of Electricity comes to life after a ten-year break in the Harburg inland port area

Coordinates: 53 ° 27 ′ 51 ″  N , 9 ° 58 ′ 55.3 ″  E