Faust Museum

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Faust Museum in the old town hall in Knittlingen

The Faust Museum in Knittlingen in Enzkreis in Baden-Württemberg is housed in the Old Town Hall, a half-timbered house from the 18th century. The permanent exhibition was redesigned in 2002. It shows exhibits on the historical Johann Georg Faust , who is believed to have been born in Knittlingen around 1480, as well as on the numerous adaptations of the Faust material .

Forerunner in the New Town Hall

Historia by D. Johann Fausten . Printed in Frankfurt am Main by Johann Spies , 1587. The Faust Museum has a facsimile .

The controversial historical document for Knittlingen as the birthplace of Faust is the copy of the deed of a property purchase in 1542. This handwritten copy was made by the teacher Karl Weisert in 1934 with a pencil. The original burned during World War II. The correctness of Weisert's copy was confirmed on March 3, 1934 by the then mayor Lehner with his signature and stamp. According to this, a Knittlinger purchase letter describes the house next to today's city church as the building "allwo Fausten born":

"Early knife and Hofraytin's living quarters, including basement and the rest of the way, everything on and on the right hand side of the mountain next to the Cappel, one side of Jörgen Gerlachen's seelig dwelling, all where Fausten born, also next to the wagon house and the small, staggered walkways ... sold, vested and sold forever. "

- Knittlinger's letter of purchase from 1542

In addition, Johannes Manlius , who was born in Ansbach, quoted a statement by his Wittenberg teacher Philipp Melanchthon , who came from Bretten , five kilometers away , that he had known Knittlinger Faust:

“I knew someone / by the name of Faustus von Kundling (is a small stettlein / not far from my fatherland) the same since he went to Crockaw's school / he had learned magic there / how one used to do it at that place used / also publicly emptied such art. He went back and forth everywhere / and said a lot of hidden things. "

- Philipp Melanchthon

There was a Faust memorial in Knittlingen since 1954. The cabinet exhibition consisted of two rooms in the New Town Hall and mainly showed exhibits from Karl Theens' collection, which made up the inventory of the old exhibition. The extensive collection of Karl Theens was initially made available to the city of Knittlingen on loan, then bought by the city of Knittlingen and thus became the basis of the Faust Museum and the Faust Archive. For 26 years there were only 30 m² of floor space available for the numerous visitors and showcases.

Faust Museum in the Old Town Hall

The increase in the number of visitors and the available exhibits soon gave rise to the desire to set up a larger house for the Faust collection, which, unlike the old exhibition, does not present itself as an "appendage of the town hall operations". From 1977 the plans for the old town hall as a new location became more concrete. It is one of the oldest and most beautiful houses in Knittlingen. Due to fires and wars, however, there is hardly any building fabric from the time of Johann Georg Faust, the current structure largely dates from the 18th century.

In cooperation with representatives of the Faust Society, Hans Schiffer took over the architectural management. As much as possible of the old structure was preserved. The building has a floor area of ​​around 300 m² and a wall area of ​​200 m². The archive rooms in the attic were occupied in November 1979. Around 5000 exhibits were viewed and over 100 table and wall cabinets were equipped. The Faust researcher Günther Mahal set up the museum in the old town hall. The museum was then opened in 1980 for the 500th birthday of historical Faust. In 1987 Mahal organized a scientific conference in Knittlingen on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the book of Historia by D. Johann Fausten . In 2002, the exhibition in the Faust Museum was completely redesigned and the archive moved to the former Old Latin School.

Exhibition in the Faust Museum

Among other things, the nine well-known contemporary sources on historical Faust are shown in the Old Town Hall, for example the letter from Johannes Trithemius to Johann Virdung from 1507. The handwritten original of the letter is in the Vatican Library in Rome. In it Trithemius writes:

“That person [the historical Faust], about whom you write to me, Georg Sabellicus, who dared to call himself the prince of the necromancers, is a tramp, empty talker and deceitful rascal, worthy of being whipped so that he is no longer publicly despicable and dare to teach things hostile to the holy Church. For what are the titles which he presumes, other than signs of the most stupid and nonsensical mind, which shows that he is a fool and not a philosopher! So he made up the following title, which was convenient for him: Magister Georg Sabellicus Faust the Younger, Quellbrunn the Necromancers, Astrologer, Second Magician, Chiromancer, Aeromancer, Pyromancer, Second in Hydromanty. - See the foolish audacity of man; what madness it takes to call yourself the source of necromancy! "

- Johannes Trithemius, 1507

An alchemist's cabinet in hexagram form has been on permanent loan in the museum since 2010 . The cupboard used to be in the stairwell of Faust's Knittlinger birthplace. He was found buried in the ground in the barn belonging to the house in 1837. It was impregnated with a layer of fat and sebum. The exact age of the alchemist's cabinet has not yet been determined. It is made of walnut wood and decorated with magical symbols. The wooden inlays stand for the four elements fire, water, air and earth and at the top for mercury ("Mercurius"). At the bottom there is a circle with a crossbar, which is interpreted as a symbol for "Sal" (salt). The constitutive material side of everything created is described in Paracelsus with the material substances "Sal" (salt, the solid), "Sulfur" (sulfur, the combustible) and "Mercurius" (mercury, the volatile), which are to be understood as pictorial terms . The symbol in the middle of the cabinet shows a three-dimensional pyramid, the letters arranged around it result in Elohim .

The exhibits on the 1st floor deal with the “people's books” from Doctor Faust, Christopher Marlowe's Faust drama about puppetry, to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust . The international Faust literature from the 19th to the 21st century is exhibited on the 2nd floor, including female Faust characters, novels, comics , dialect and Faust in the parody . In addition, the exhibition also deals with Faust in theater, music and film. In addition to the permanent exhibition, two special exhibitions are shown annually in the gallery of the Faust Archive.

“We don't know what he [the historical Faust] looked like, we don't know whether he was married. The problem is that in the 17th century, Knittlingen burned down several times. This means that the original documents, such as the baptismal register, birth and marriage registers, are all burned. But we know that the Faust family existed here. There are the so-called Maulbronn sample lists. And exactly in the epoch where Georg Faust lived, there is evidence of a Konrad Faust, a Michael Faust. Georg Faust did not do any military service. Otherwise it would also be there, in these sample lists. "

- Heike Hamberger, director of the Knittlinger Faust Museum

Faust archive in the old Latin school

Faust archive in the old Latin school, Knittlingen

The Faust Archive has been located in the former Old Latin School, one of the oldest surviving Latin schools in the region with a baroque surface, since 2002 . The baroque school hall on the ground floor is used today for concerts, literary evenings, lectures and symposia. An extensive library is available on the 1st floor, which covers all facets of the Faust topic from the historical Faust to the present. In the gallery on the 2nd floor there are not only special exhibitions on Faust, but also numerous art exhibitions.

The majority of the collection in the Faust archive can be traced back to several individual collections. It is a matter of

  • the Faust collection of the Stuttgart chief engineer Karl Theens, the first president of the Faust Society founded in 1967,
  • the Faust music collection by Walter Aign,
  • the collected theater materials on Faust by the actor and director Luigi Malipiero as well as
  • the Faust stamp collection of the lawyer Hermann Blaese.
  • the puppet show collection: hand puppets, marionettes, shadow theater figures , bequests (e.g. Hohnsteiner puppet shows , Werner Wolffoerster (Karlsruhe), Gustav Dubelowski-Gellhorn (Linz puppet theater " Pupilla "), shadow theater Kraemer (Karlsruhe)).
  • the Moosmann-Böhme Faust collection. The collection acquired in 2001 consists of oil paintings , drawings , graphic works , books, illustrations, sound carriers, films and postage stamps. The 42 Mephisto and Faust sculptures , plaques made of bronze, plaster, wood, tin, porcelain, alabaster, aluminum, silver and ivory are a special feature of the collection .
  • Faust music by various composers
  • Faust films (international).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Year and place of birth are unclear and controversial, cf. further information in the WP article on Johann Georg Faust
  2. ↑ "Certification. The correctness of the presented copy of the purchase contract from the year 1542 (concerning the birthplace of Dr. Faust) found in a box in the cellar of the Knittlinger town hall is certified on the basis of the purchase letter presented. Knittlingen, March 3, 1934 ” . Since the original document was burned, a kind of “falsification of history” in favor of Knittlingen cannot be completely ruled out. Strictly speaking, the heading "Certification" is dubious from an administrative point of view, as the corresponding texts cannot be certified. On the doubts cf. Peter Thaddäus Lang: On the biography of the historical Faustus. The question of the reliability of a source from Knittlingen . In: Württemberg Commission for State History a. a. (Ed.): Journal for Württembergische Landesgeschichte , Volume 44, 1985, pp. 308-315, the wording of the controversial document is on p. 314
  3. ↑ Quoted from Günther Mahal (ed.), Der historical Faust , Faust Archive, Knittlingen 1982, p. 104
  4. ↑ See also Günther Mahal, Faust-Museum Knittlingen , 1984, p. 12
  5. ↑ Quoted from Johannes Manlius, Locorum Communium Collectanea . Basel 1563, p. 42 f. (lat.), German published 1565.
  6. ↑ Günther Mahal, Brigitte Bruns, Ottmar Maier (eds.): Faust Museum Knittlingen. Exhibits, materials, comments . Daxer, Stuttgart 1980, p. 5
  7. ↑ So Mahal's critical formulation of the old situation in the New Town Hall: Günther Mahal, Brigitte Bruns, Ottmar Maier (eds.): Faust Museum Knittlingen. Exhibits, materials, comments . Daxer, Stuttgart 1980, p. 5
  8. ↑ The results are published in: Günther Mahal (Ed.): Die "Historia von D. Johann Fausten" (1587). A scientific symposium on the occasion of the 400th book anniversary (Knittlingen 10/11 October 1987). Verl. Am Klostertor, Maulbronn 1988
  9. ↑ Pal. Lat 730, 174r-175r
  10. ^ Letter from Johannes Trithemius to Johann Virdung from 1507, documented by Günther Mahal, Brigitte Bruns, Ottmar Maier (eds.): Faust Museum Knittlingen. Exhibits, materials, comments . Daxer, Stuttgart 1980, p. 17
  11. ↑ Cf. Günther Mahal, Brigitte Bruns, Ottmar Maier (eds.): Faust Museum Knittlingen. Exhibits, materials, comments . Daxer, Stuttgart 1980, p. 33
  12. ↑ See Albrecht Classen, Paracelsus in the context of the sciences , 2010, p. 177
  13. ↑ Heike Hamberger, in: Marianne Thoms: Sterndeuter, Quacksalber, Freigeist? The historical Faust . SWR2 Knowledge - Manuscript Service. Broadcast on February 4, 2011
  14. ↑ Faust Archive, Kirchplatz 9, 75438 Knittlingen, right next to the house where Faust was born
  15. ↑ See current program of events, Faust Museum / Faust Archive, via the City of Knittlingen website or on request from the Faust Archive.
  16. ↑ Günther Mahal, Brigitte Bruns, Ottmar Maier (eds.): Faust Museum Knittlingen. Exhibits, materials, comments . Daxer, Stuttgart 1980, p. 6
  17. ^ The Faust Collection Moosmann-Böhme . Catalog published by the Faust Museum / Archive of the City of Knittlingen and the German Department of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 2008

literature

  • Günther Mahal (Ed.): Views on Faust. Karl Theens on his 70th birthday . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1973, 272 pp.
  • Günther Mahal, Brigitte Bruns, Ottmar Maier (eds.): Faust Museum Knittlingen. Exhibits, materials, comments . Daxer, Stuttgart 1980, 194 pages
  • Hildegard Gerlach, Günther Mahal: Witches, Brocken, Walpurgis Night. Special exhibition 1980 . Faust Museum, Knittlingen 1980, 80 pp.
  • Günther Mahal: Faust censored. Special exhibition 1981 . Faust Museum, Knittlingen 1981, 80 pp.
  • Albert Allgaier: Knittlingen and the black artist Faust . In: Ders., Forays through Swabia . Vol. 2. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1981, p. 52 ff.
  • Günther Mahal: Faust, the man from Knittlingen. 1480/1980. Documents, explanations, information . Faust Society, Knittlingen 1982, 93 pp.
  • Günther Mahal: Goethe's Faust - seriously? Special exhibition 1982 . Faust Museum, Knittlingen 1982, 80 pp.
  • Günther Mahal (ed.): Faust reception in Russia and in the Soviet Union. Special exhibition 1983 . Faust Museum, Knittlingen 1983, 116 pp.
  • Peter Thaddäus Lang: On the biography of the historical Faustus. The question of the reliability of a source from Knittlingen . In: Württemberg Commission for State History a. a. (Ed.): Journal for Württembergische Landesgeschichte , Volume 44, 1985, pp. 308-315
  • Günther Mahal (Ed.): The "Historia von D. Johann Fausten" (1587). A scientific symposium on the occasion of the 400th book anniversary (Knittlingen 10/11 October 1987) . Verl. Am Klostertor, Maulbronn 1988, 103 pp.
  • Günther Mahal: Faust in the sign of Mars. Special exhibition 1992 . Faust Museum, Knittlingen 1992, 174 pp.
  • Günther Mahal: Faust and the stamps. Special exhibition 1995 . Faust Museum, Knittlingen 1995, 106 pp.
  • Günther Mahal: Faust Museum Knittlingen . 2nd edition Westermann, Stuttgart 1996, 128 pp.
  • Günther Mahal: Faust - And Faust. The Teufelsbündler in Knittlingen and Maulbronn . Attempto, Tübingen 1997, 216 pp.
  • Heike Hamberger: … allwo Fausten born. Faust Museum and the Faust Archive in Knittlingen . In: ALG-Umschau / Working Group of Literary Societies and Memorials eV Berlin 2005, 34, p. 36 f.
  • Faust Museum / Archive of the City of Knittlingen, German Department of the University of Heidelberg (Ed.): The Faust Collection Moosmann-Böhme. The catalog . Stegmaier, Mühlacker 2008, 235 pp.

Web links

Commons : Faust Museum  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 1 ′ 25.9 ″  N , 8 ° 45 ′ 27.5 ″  E