Historical Museum Olten
The Historical Museum Olten has existed since 1902 as a cultural institution of the city of Olten in the canton of Solothurn , Switzerland . It fulfills the tasks of a regional history museum and at the same time the historical city museum of Olten. It is a member of the Association of Museums in Switzerland VMS, the Association of Museums of the Canton of Solothurn and the Association Museums-PASS-Musées .
history
The museum, founded by the city's citizens around the hospital doctor Max von Arx, was initially housed in the recently built Frohheim school in Olten. In 1932 it moved into larger rooms in the multipurpose building newly constructed by Fritz von Niederhäusern in the city center on Konradstrasse. The same building originally housed the fire department store, departments of the city schools and offices of the city administrative departments.
The museum later used various external storage rooms for its rapidly growing collections. The cultural assets kept in the museum come from private individuals, associations, companies and authorities and document the social and economic history of the Olten region since the late Middle Ages.
Around 1980 the museum set up modern permanent exhibitions under the project management of Hans Brunner and Hugo Schneider (for the archaeological area), which were awarded a museum prize.
The museum received archaeological finds very early on, which had come to light on construction sites in Olten in the 19th and 20th centuries. This includes numerous found coins. The museum has also organized archaeological excavations itself several times, for example shortly after 1930 on the Frohburg castle ruins above the neighboring community of Trimbach SO . This activity ceased after the founding of the Solothurn Canton Archeology (around 1970). The former Department of Archeology at the Historisches Museum Olten recently developed into the independent Archaeological Museum of the Canton of Solothurn , which is run by the Canton of Solothurn Archeology.
collection
Social history
The museum has extensive holdings of cultural history with objects from the city history of Olten and from various communities in the canton of Solothurn, as well as several thematic collections. The focus of the collection is devoted to the population and economic history of the Olten region. In general, the museum material is items from the private property of families from Olten, objects from Olten businesses and companies and things from the history of the railway . Documents, personal objects and photographs of the railway engineer Niklaus Riggenbach , who headed the workshop of the Swiss Central Railway Company in Olten in the 19th century , are valuable for the technical history of the region.
Economic history
Because of the great importance of economic and transport history for the city of Olten, the Historical Museum Olten has created important collections of industrial heritage. Examples are series of objects by the former trading company Usego , the commercial vehicle designer Berna (Olten) , the laundry detergent factory Sunlight founded by the English manufacturer Lever Brothers and the PCO Portlandcementwerke Olten AG .
Cultural history
Various special collections relating to cultural history complement the museum collection, especially the unique holdings of historical costume jewelry , ceramics from the Canton of Solothurn and foreign production facilities, as well as early lighting devices and an extensive coin collection .
Historical photography
Over time, the museum received large collections of historical photography . In addition to portrait photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries, this includes numerous series of industrial photography and entire archive holdings from professional photographers from the city of Olten and the canton of Solothurn. Significant authors of the photography collection include Emil Werner, Paul Does, Friedrich Aeschbacher, Fritz Stüssi, Werner Rubin, Roland Schneider, Franz Gloor and Thomas Ledergerber.
Education and mediation
Every year the museum organizes special exhibitions on historical topics of the city of Olten and the canton of Solothurn. Major exhibitions in recent years were:
- The city of Olten in the First World War (2014), project within the framework of the international network museums
- Modern architecture in the canton of Solothurn 1940 to 1980 (2013)
- Von Roll Eisenwerk (2013)
- Contemporary photography at the southern foot of the Jura (2012)
- Knights of the Jura - The Counts of Frohburg (2011)
- Beliefs - images of life. 150 years of the Evangelical Reformed Parish of Olten (2009)
- Cityscapes. Friedrich Aeschbacher and Werner Rubin (2009)
- Cycling in Aareland (2007)
- Aviation pioneers over the Born (2007)
- Searching for traces : 100 years of USEGO Union Swiss Purchasing Company Olten (2007)
- 150 years of the railway in Olten (2006)
The museum regularly publishes writings on the history of the town of Olten, on the special exhibitions and on its collection.
The annual program includes educational offers for adults and young people. Photo-didactic courses play an important role here.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Project partnership with the Solothurn Monument Preservation and the Grenchen cultural and historical museum
- ↑ Exhibition information
- ↑ Joint project with the Swiss Economic Archives , Basel
- ↑ With the support of the “SBB historic” foundation
- ↑ Museum publications
Coordinates: 47 ° 21 '1.7 " N , 7 ° 54' 3.7" E ; CH1903: 634940 / two hundred forty-four thousand five hundred and four