Hessian State Museum Darmstadt

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Hessian State Museum Darmstadt
The Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt
The Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt (2015)
Data
place Darmstadt, Germany
Art
Universal museum
architect Alfred Messel
opening 1906 (first opening), 1955 (reopening after the war), 2014 (reopening after renovation)
management
since January 1, 2019: Martin Faass
Website
ISIL DE-MUS-033718

The Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt ( HLMD for short ), one of the oldest public museums in Germany, is a universal museum with extensive permanent collections; there are also special exhibitions. It is one of the largest museums in Germany and brings together numerous different collections from the fields of art , cultural and natural history .

The main building of the museum on Friedensplatz or Karolinenplatz in Darmstadt has been reopened on September 13, 2014 after extensive construction and renovation work.

history

The Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt
Main entrance Hessisches Landesmuseum (2006)
Symbol for the renovation of the museum (2007)
Lion sculpture in a space suit, special exhibition on the Rosetta mission

The museum goes back to a foundation of Grand Duke Ludwig I of Hessen-Darmstadt in 1820, who handed over his art and natural objects collection to the property of the state. The collections had been continuously built up by the Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt since the 17th century and were significantly expanded in the following years through purchases and donations.

In 1817 the collection was moved from the old residential palace to the new palace. From 1828 the natural scientist Johann Jakob Kaup (1803–1873) worked in the museum. He is considered a pioneer of paleontology and examined and described numerous fossil finds .

A new building became more and more necessary from 1855, as the collections continued to grow. An architectural competition conducted in 1892 did not produce satisfactory results. The building that now houses the collections was finally built in 1897 at the instigation of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig by the architect Alfred Messel , who had made a name for himself in Berlin with ideas for planning an ideal museum , and was handed over to its intended use in 1906. Under the influence of the Grand Duke, Messel took over from Louis Remy de la Fosse the idea of ​​a tower design for the castle that was not carried out. Inside the building, the historical connections should be illustrated by showrooms such as the Romanesque corridor , the Gothic church and the medieval courtyard . Since 1912, two flagpoles and two bronze lions designed by Heinrich Jobst have stood in front of the museum .

In 1924 Baron Maximilian von Heyl , who was made an honorary citizen of Darmstadt for this purpose , donated an important collection of paintings by Arnold Böcklin , which became the focus of the 19th century gallery.

The art history collections, especially the graphic collection and the holdings of German expressionist paintings , suffered significant losses during the Nazi era . The building was badly damaged by bombing during the Second World War ( see also the history of the city of Darmstadt , air raid on Darmstadt (fire night)), but the most important exhibits had previously been relocated and thus saved.

In 1955 the museum was reopened. There were other significant enhancements to the collection, such as the Block Beuys by Joseph Beuys and an extensive collection of works of his student Blinky Palermo . The geological-paleontological collection was fundamentally renewed with finds from the Messel pit . At the beginning of the 1970s, the top floor was expanded. In 1984 the museum was expanded to include an extension for 20th century art. The 1st prize in an architectural competition from 2004 for the renovation and expansion of the Hessian State Museum provided for the demolition and replacement of this extension building, but it was not demolished, but “upgraded”. The HLMD was closed from September 30, 2007 to September 12, 2014 due to this renovation.

Museum director

The main exhibits

Natural history collection

Jewel beetle with an iridescent color from the Messel Pit

The museum has a collection of large vertebrate fossils from the Messel Pit . In a long-term special exhibition, fossil plants and insects are also exhibited; sometimes shimmering in color, they also give an impression of their individual beauty. Furthermore, a completely preserved skeleton of a mastodon from the USA is shown.

Rarities are also fossil mammal remains from deposits ( dinotheria sands ) around ten million years old from the original Rhine in Rheinhessen. The 28 centimeter long thigh bone of an ape ( Paidopithex rhenanus ) from Eppelsheim , which was discovered in 1820, is considered to be of particular scientific value . This is considered to be the world's first historical find of a fossil great ape.

The State Museum also houses the largest collection of human history in Europe in models, that is, of reconstructions of the skulls of early species of the genus Homo and Australopithecus .

The zoological department is particularly known for its ten historical dioramas, which were designed and constructed when the museum was built. They show both European habitats (e.g. North Sea coast, Alps, river banks) and the fauna of continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, South America). The latter continental dioramas are unique in their construction because they depict the fauna of an entire continent in a highly abstract landscape. Due to their high historical value, the dioramas were restored from 2007 to 2014, whereby the original condition should be preserved or restored.

Outstanding zoological exhibits are also preparations from relatively recently extinct animal species, such as B. Quagga , pouch wolf , Steller's manatee , ivory woodpecker , giant moa , solitaire , lobster and paradise parakeet . In addition, the zoological department has a large number of assembled vertebrate skeletons, including a. a ceiling-mounted skeleton of a minke whale. In the scientific zoological collections are u. a. Objects of the so-called ' Xarifa Expeditions' (1953–1954, 1957–1958), which were led by diving pioneer Hans Hass . The former zoological curator of the State Museum Georg Scheer was a participant of these research trips.

Art and cultural history collection

The oldest man from Darmstadt , the skeleton of a young man buried in the typical stool position, was found in 1926 and is assigned to the bell beaker culture , which began in 2000 BC. Is to be proven by finds in the Darmstadt area.

Among the most important finds of the Roman period that belongs Oceanus - mosaic from the Roman Baths Bad Vilbel , which occupies an entire room. Also in the Roman section is the Leugenstein from Kleestadt and an incised inscription on a hypocaust brick from the Roman Villa Haselburg .

Block Beuys is an extensive collection of sculptures and works on paper by the German artist Joseph Beuys in the HLMD, which comprises seven rooms. The artist installed this work complex in 1970.

Overview of the permanent collections

Art history

  • Prehistory and early history
  • Greek and Roman archeology
  • Medieval art and stained glass
  • Medieval ivory works and altar paintings, including the Adolf von Hüpsch collection
  • Handicrafts
  • Baroque art
  • 19th and 20th century art
  • Work complex Joseph Beuys ( Block Beuys ) (installation in seven rooms.)
  • Simon Spierer Collection : A Forest of Sculptures (40 exhibits in three rooms.)
  • Graphic collection with study room
  • Physical cabinet and historical musical instruments

Geology / paleontology

zoology

  • historical dioramas (native habitats + animal geographical groups)
  • Preparations from extinct animals (e.g. quagga, pouch wolf, ivory woodpecker, Rodriguez solitaire, Steller's manatee, etc.)
  • Systematic collection with a focus on corals, birds and mammals
  • extensive skeleton collection

mineralogy

  • Mineralogical collections

Projects / cooperations

The Schader Foundation and the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt have been showing joint exhibitions since February 2007 under the title Pictures of Social Change . The questions and research fields of the Schader Foundation aiming at the connection between social sciences and practice are in dialogue with the history, themes and motifs of art. These exhibitions are based on the rich holdings of paintings, sculptures and works on paper in the Hessian State Museum. The following exhibitions have been developed so far: The Foreign Landscape (2007), City Field Research: 29 Answers (2007/2008), Sculpture Room Darmstadt (2008 ), City Man - Time Leap (2008/2009), City - Image - Construction (2009), hidden : seen (2009/2010), Anny and Sibel Öztürk. from inner to outer shadow (2010), Against the War (2010) and Views of the Self (2011/2012).

Special and changing exhibitions (selection)

  • "Silent Music." Anselm Feuerbach's "Iphigenia" (13.9.2014 - 14.12.2014)
  • Charlemagne - 1200 years of myth and reality (11/18/2014 - 1/25/2015)
  • desired, given, bought - new acquisitions of the graphic collection (November 26, 2014 - February 8, 2015)
  • Between Enlightenment and Romanticism - drawings, watercolors and oil studies from the founding time of the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (13.3.2015 - 14.6.2015)
  • Homo - Expanding Worlds. Original human finds from five regions of the world (October 9, 2015 - November 22, 2015)
  • Albrecht Dürer - Masterpieces of Printmaking from the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt (29.1.2016 - 24.4.2016)
  • Hidden Beauty - Art Forms of Nature (02/18/2016 - 03/07/2016)
  • Chic! Fashion in the 17th century (July 15, 2016 - October 16, 2016)
  • Shaped longing. Travel posters around 1900 (October 27, 2016 - February 26, 2017)
  • Rosetta - Europe's comet hunter (May 12, 2017 - October 8, 2017)
  • The order of heaven (8/8/2017 - 3/3/2017)
  • Image works of knowledge - a cross-section through 450 years of Darmstadt University and State Library (November 2nd, 2017 - February 4th, 2018)
  • The Mainz Goldschmuck - An Art Thriller from the German Empire (December 8, 2017 - March 11, 2018)
  • Elegance & Poetry - Highlights of the French Art of Drawing (29.3.2018 - 24.6.2018)
  • Nature of the sky - altar painting on the Middle Rhine from the 13th to the 16th century (April 24, 2018 - August 26, 2018)
  • Microsculpture - The insect portraits by Levon Biss. From the collection of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (4.5.2018 - 5.8.2018)
  • Homage to Carl Philipp Fohr (June 29, 2018 - August 26, 2018)
  • Stages - Episodes of Life (28.9.2018 - 27.1.2019)
  • bauhaus positions (April 11, 2019 - August 11, 2019)
  • Suitable for everyday use! Jewelry from Art Nouveau to Art Deco (May 10, 2019 - September 8, 2019)
  • Rembrandt Competition - A princely competition (July 9th, 2020 - October 4th, 2020)
  • 25 years UNESCO World Natural Heritage (July 11, 2020 - July 7, 2021)
  • American Heiner - A mammoth makes history (November 6th, 2020 - February 7th, 2021)

Branch offices

With the Folklore Collection and the Folklore Department, the HLMD has a branch in the Museum Center Lorsch and the branch for font, typesetting and printing processes in the Printing Museum / House for Industrial Culture in Darmstadt.

Support association

The museum is ideally and financially supported by the Friends of the Landesmuseum Darmstadt , who offer exclusive tours, a lecture program as well as excursions and studio visits.

Other facilities

The museum has a publicly accessible study room of the graphic collection, a publicly accessible library, regular appraisals of art and natural history objects (after registration) as well as a museum shop and the Rodenstein café. The entrance to the museum is barrier-free (west side at the museum shop), there is a barrier-free orientation plan as well as elevators and corresponding sanitary facilities.

See also

literature

(in chronological order)

  • Gerhard Bott : The museum of the future. Festschrift for the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the foundation charter of the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt 1820–1970. Darmstadt 1970.
  • Wolfgang Beeh : Images around 1800 to 1970. Peters, Hanau 1970, ISBN 3-87627-235-1 .
  • Klemens Mörmann (ed.): The German museum guide in color. Museums and collections in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. Book guild Gutenberg, Frankfurt am Main / Olten / Vienna 1983, DNB 870131540 , pp. 243–245.
  • Peter Stepan (ed.): The German museums. Westermann's colored guide through all important museums and collections. Westermann Sachbuch, Braunschweig 1983, ISBN 3-14-508854-8 , pp. 139-142.
  • Wolfgang Beeh: German painting around 1260 to 1550 in the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt. Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt 1990, ISBN 3-926527-18-8 .
  • Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (Ed.): Guide to the art history collections. Deutsche Kunstverlag, Munich 1993, DNB 931429196 .
  • Hessischer Museumsverband (Hrsg.): Museums in Hessen. A handbook of the publicly accessible museums and collections in the state of Hesse. 4th, completely revised and expanded edition. Hessischer Museumsverband, Kassel 1994, ISBN 3-9800508-8-2 , pp. 356-359.
  • Christoph Hahn, Siegmar Hohl (ed.): The great museum guide. Collections on art, culture, nature and technology in Germany. Bassermann Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 2000, ISBN 978-3-8094-5013-9 , pp. 122-123.
  • Barbara Bott: Paintings by Hessian painters of the 19th century in the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt. Kehrer, Heidelberg 2003, ISBN 978-3-933257-67-3 .
  • Theo Jülich : Alfred Messel and his Darmstadt State Museum. History and architecture. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-7954-2897-6 .
  • Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (Hrsg.): The Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. Museum guide. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-7954-2875-4 .
  • Kai Boysen: The Physical Cabinet of the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt - Optical instruments and images from the field of dioptrics. Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt 2018, ISBN 978-3-926527-95-0 .

Web links

Commons : Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Metropol News of October 23, 2018: Darmstadt: Dr. Martin Faass is the new director of the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt , accessed on October 24, 2018
  2. ^ Museum press release of July 14, 2014, accessed on July 15, 2014
  3. ↑ Katinka Fischer: From Noah's Ark to the Church. In: FAZ.net . September 13, 2014, accessed December 7, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Dr. Theo Jülich becomes director of the Hessian State Museum in Darmstadt. In: DarmstadtNews.de , March 20, 2013, accessed on September 26, 2015.

Coordinates: 49 ° 52 ′ 29 "  N , 8 ° 39 ′ 11"  E