Historical and Ethnological Museum St. Gallen

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Main facade

The Historical and Ethnological Museum St. Gallen (HVM for short) is a museum in the city park of the city of St. Gallen ( Switzerland ). It was opened in 1921 and today has the most important cultural history collection in northeastern Switzerland ; One focus is the history of the city of St. Gallen.

building

Inner courtyard of the hipped roof building

The building was constructed in 1915–1921 according to plans by the Winterthur architects Bridler & Völki . The neoclassical hipped roof building has a western façade with a mighty arrangement of columns, which is repeated on the east side. Events take place in the central courtyard, including the St. Gallen cultural festival.

history

Historical photo of the ethnological room

Both collections started as a private initiative. The basis of the historical department was compiled from 1862 onwards by the Historical Association of the Canton of St. Gallen . The objects were first exhibited in the city library. In 1877 the collection became a department of the "Museum im Stadtpark", which was opened at that time. Today this building houses the art museum . As early as 1912, a lack of space led to the establishment of a building fund for the municipal collections by the local community of St.Gallen. In 1915–1921, a second building was erected east of this museum on the site of what was then the botanical garden : the Historical and Ethnological Museum. It is one of the last cultural “lighthouses” that the city owed to the embroidery boom.

From 1850 onwards, objects of ethnological interest came increasingly to St. Gallen - thanks to the city's extensive business connections, but also to diverse, diplomatic and cultural foreign relations. Here, too, the embroidery boom formed the main background. The collection had prestige character, but also economic benefits - e.g. B. for the training of business people. It also satisfied the interest in distant, exotic worlds, which was great around 1900. The Ostschweizerische Geographisch-Commercielle Gesellschaft, founded in 1878, was responsible for the new branch of the museum. It took over the ethnographic objects of the historical association and set up its own ethnological collection, which was initially housed in the west wing of the cantonal school and moved to the town hall of the local community in 1899. In 1917 the collection was donated to the local community.

Until 1979 the HVM belonged to the local community of St. Gallen. It then became part of the “St. Gallen Museums Foundation”. When it was dissolved on January 1, 2012, it was converted into a single foundation. The financing is largely provided by the city of St. Gallen.

collection

Opsersaal: Representation room (1580) from Prince Abbot Joachim Opser from Hof Wil
City model of St. Gallen by the architect Salomon Schlatter (1921) after an engraving by Matthäus Merian in 1642

The museum's collection today comprises around 70,000 objects.

Historical department

A central element of the historical department are period rooms : original rooms from the 16th to 18th centuries from the city and canton of St. Gallen. Particularly noteworthy are the small council chamber from the city of St. Gallen (1679), a state room by Prince Abbot Joachim Opser from Hof ​​Wil (1580) and the city history hall with images of the history of St. Gallen canvas and the model of late medieval St. Gallen. It was built by the St. Gallen architect Salomon Schlatter for the opening of the museum in 1921, based on an engraving by Matthäus Merian from 1642. Overall, the historical department provides an overview of the regional prehistory and early history up to the early 20th century. There is also an inventory of art: sacred art, Appenzell and Toggenburg folk art, costumes, glass paintings as well as uniforms, weapons and flags. On display are a Roman sgraffito and a “ Turicum ” car built in 1909, a Burgundy flag - which came to St. Gallen as spoils of war in 1476 - and a pub sign with lions from 1786. On the upper floor there is a children's museum that opened in 2007. In 2010, a large part of the artifacts from the Rapperswil-Jona City Museum relating to the Centum Prata Roman site was incorporated into the collection.

Ethnological Department

The ethnographic department documents past cultures and is largely based on donations. Important collectors were Han Coray (1880–1974) and Eduard von der Heydt (1882–1964).

The main focus in Africa is the cult of the dead in ancient Egypt ; Masks and sculptures from West and Central Africa as well as bronze work from the Kingdom of Benin . In the area of ​​Asia it is the culture area India including Central Asia, Indochina and Indonesia; Ceramics from the Stone Age to the last imperial dynasty and religious art from China; Applied arts, Nō masks and figures from Japan. The connection between Asia and Africa is formed by the Islamic culture. The American continent is represented by the Indian and Eskimo cultures of North America, the pre-Columbian cultures of Central and South America, and the Amazon Indians.

Archaeological Department

The permanent exhibition "Fascination Archeology - Treasures from St.Gallen Soil" deals with human settlement in the area of ​​today's Canton St.Gallen from the Paleolithic to modern times. In the front part it offers a chronological overview based on selected objects and a 30 m long diorama. The oldest finds prove the presence of groups of hunters as early as 50,000 or around 40,000–30,000 years ago (Pfäffers, Vättis / Drachenloch; Wildhaus-Alt, St.Johann / Wildenmannlisloch). The Alpine Rhine Valley, the Walensee region and the Lint Plain have been part of the most important transit routes from north to south since ancient times. Various archaeologically proven settlements, traffic routes and finds prove this very impressively. Another focus of the exhibition are the results of the more recent excavations of the canton archeology of St.Gallen - in particular from the Roman Rapperswil-Jona / Kempraten, the St.Gallen abbey district and the late medieval town of Weesen. The interactive “Laboratory Archeology” shows how archeology comes to its knowledge in the first place. The archeology library, games, historical costumes and the museum's educational program offer in-depth encounters with all these eras.

Illustrations

  • Zeppelin EPL II

  • Portrait of Joachim von Watt - Vadian

  • Head of John in silver

  • Figure of a warrior of the Oglala Sioux

  • Nō mask (O-Tobide)

  • Entrance hall with foyer

literature

  • St. Gallen-Bodensee Tourismus and Ralph Harb: St. Gallen City Guide with Abbey District. 5th edition 2012, Historisches und Völkerkundemuseum St. Gallen, St. Gallen 2012, p. 86f.
  • Peter Röllin and Daniel Studer: St. Gallen Architecture and Urban Development 1850–1920. Special publication from vol. 8 of the entire inventory series of recent Swiss architecture 1850–1920 INSA. Society for Swiss Art History 2003, St. Gallen 2003, pp. 139f.
  • Emil Wild: Report on the collections of the historical association in St.Gallen in 1884/85. In: St. Galler Blätter. St. Gallen 1886, p. 7.
  • Emil Wild: Report on the collections of the historical association 1888. In: St. Galler Blätter, No. 10. St. Gallen 1889, p. 38.
  • Emil Hahn: Report on the collections of the historical association in 1899. In: St. Galler Blätter, No. 19. St. Gallen 1900, p. 150.
  • Emil Hahn: Report on the collections of the historical association in 1891. In: St. Galler Blätter, No. 7. St. Gallen 1892.
  • Emil Hahn: Report on the collections of the historical association in 1893. In: St. Galler Blätter, No. 11. St. Gallen 1894, p. 87.
  • Erwin Poeschel: The art monuments of the canton of St. Gallen. Vol. 2, The City of St. Gallen: Part One. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1957.
  • August Hardegger, Salomon Schlatter and Traugott Schiess: The architectural monuments of the city of St. Gallen. Publishing house of the Fehr'schen Buchhandlung, St. Gallen 1922.
  • Annual reports of the Geographical Commercial Society of Eastern Switzerland, 1878 ff.

Web links

Commons : Historical and Völkerkundemuseum St. Gallen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zangger Andreas, Koloniale Schweiz, Bielefeld 2011, p. 377
  2. ^ Administrative Council of the City of St. Gallen: City Museum for History and Ethnology in St. Gallen. As advertising leaflet for the second museum building, St. Gallen 1912.
  3. ^ Hermann Surber: The antique rooms, ceilings and components built into the historical museum. In: Museum letter 51/52. St. Gallen 1984.
  4. ↑ Monika Mähr: Meeting the story. In: 149th New Year's Gazette 2009. Historical Association of the Canton of St. Gallen, St. Gallen 2009, p. 89f.
  5. ↑ History and Ethnology Museum St. Gallen, archive files 2012.
  6. ↑ Opened on January 16, 2014. Content curation: Kantonsarchäologie St.Gallen (Head: Dr. Martin Schindler) and lic. phil. Jonas Kissling (on behalf of Holzer Kobler Architectures , Zurich). Concept, graphics, design and implementation: Holzer Kobler Architectures, Zurich.
  7. ^ Regula Steinhauser-Zimmermann: Paleolithic and Mesolithic in the canton of St.Gallen. In: helvetia archaeologica, 106/108, 1996, 49-51.
  8. ^ Regula Steinhauser-Zimmermann: The Montlingerberg in the canton of St.Gallen (Switzerland). Zurich 1989.
  9. ↑ Wooden footbridge between Rapperswil-Jona and Hurden.
  10. ↑ Martin Peter Schindler: Wartau - Life on the Alpine Transversal. In: Across the Alps. People - ways - goods. In: ALManach, 7/8. Edited by the Archaeological State Museum Baden-Württemberg. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, pp. 235-239. - Regula Steinhauser-Zimmermann: Early trading in luxury goods on the Montlingerberg in the St.Gallen Rhine Valley. In: Across the Alps. People - ways - goods. In: ALManach, 7/8. Edited by the Archaeological State Museum Baden-Württemberg. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, 169-174.
  11. ^ Regula Ackermann: The Roman vicus of Kempraten, Rapperswil-Jona. (= Archeology in the Canton of St. Gallen, 1st) St. Gallen 2013.
  12. ↑ Martin Peter Schindler: From Gallus to fiberglass. Archeology in the Abbey District and Old Town St.Gallen. Historical Association of the Canton of St.Gallen, New Year's Gazette 152. Wattwil 2012.

Coordinates: 47 ° 25 '43.2 "  N , 9 ° 22' 58.3"  E ; CH1903:  seven hundred and forty-six thousand six hundred seventy-five  /  254913