Chemnitz Industrial Museum

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Aerial view of the Chemnitz Industrial Museum, the museum area on the left, the depot on the right
Chemnitz Industrial Museum - street view
View of the former Carl August Richter foundry, which housed the first Chemnitz industrial museum from 1992 to 2002
Detail of the arched architecture of the former foundry of the machine tool factory Hermann and Alfred Escher AG, the seat of the museum since 2003

The Chemnitz Industrial Museum is an extensive collection from the Saxon industrial history in Chemnitz and is part of the Saxon Industrial Museum . The exhibition is located in a former foundry hall of the machine tool factory Hermann and Alfred Escher AG .

History of the site

The brothers Bernhard and Hermann Escher founded a workshop in Chemnitz in 1874 for the manufacture of lathes and machine tools . From 1880 the brothers went their separate ways in business. Hermann Escher took over the Rockstrohsche foundry on Zwickauer Strasse in 1895 . Various companies, mostly textile factories, had already been based on the foundry site since 1857. After the takeover by Hermann Escher, there was constant structural expansion. In 1907 a modern foundry hall with a work area of ​​4500 m² was built. Around 6000 tons of machine castings were produced here in two cupola furnaces per year. In a neighboring assembly hall (built in 1897) the production of lead screw and facing lathes, planing and drilling machines as well as steam engines took place . However, in the course of the economic crisis after the end of the First World War , the foundry had to be closed in 1925. The Hermann and Alfred Escher AG was during the Great Depression in 1929-30 by the German Niles-Werke AG Berlin adopted. The foundry hall was used as a warehouse. During the Second World War , Auto Union AG resumed foundry operations and produced housings for tank engines here. After the end of the war, the armaments factory was completely dismantled and then rebuilt. During the GDR era, the foundry operated as part of the VEB United Chemnitzer Foundries and was named after the KPD functionary Rudolf Harlaß . After the commissioning of a new central foundry in Chemnitz-Wittgensdorf , the foundry was shut down in 1982 and the area was prepared for demolition.

Conversion as a museum location

The turning point prevented the already prepared demolition of the industrial facilities. Instead, the Chemnitz city council decided in 1996 to set up a central industrial museum there. Previously, in 1992, a major initiative of the Förderverein Industriemuseum Chemnitz e. V. a first industrial museum with a small exhibition was opened in the buildings of the former Carl August Richter iron foundry on Annaberger Straße (expanded in 1994 and 1995 and closed in 2003).

After acquiring the site of the former machine tool factory Hermann and Alfred Escher AG, the city gradually redeveloped the site as a new museum location from 1999 onwards. The assembly hall and other ancillary buildings were demolished, the foundry hall and the neighboring machine house as the central and authentic core area were retained.

Both buildings are architecturally remarkable examples of industrial architecture . The foundry hall consists of four aisles, each 14 meters wide and 52 meters long. The brick outer walls are clad with clinker . The roof is designed as a shed roof . The brick building is particularly noticeable towards Zwickauer Strasse with its round arch architecture that is well worth seeing.

A new connection between the foundry and the machine house forms the main entrance to the museum. The design of the new museum comes from the Berlin architects C. A. Pauli and P. Wermund. The opening of the new museum took place in April 2003.

Exhibitions

Permanent exhibition

The exhibits in the permanent exhibition convey the technical development as well as connections with the social and economic history of Saxony. The temporal spectrum starts at the end of the 18th century, the beginning of industrialization in Saxony, and ends in the present.

Since 2014/2015, the exhibition has been subdivided into subject areas that provide insight into the most important areas of Saxon industrial history, from mining and the textile industry to mechanical engineering and modern automobile manufacture, and also provide information about the social consequences of industrialization. The redesign costs amounted to around two million euros.

The museum is the anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Culture (ERIH).

The main attractions of the permanent exhibition include:

  • the "Silver Ribbon of Saxon Industrial History" with highlights of Saxon industrial production, including motor vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles as well as textile, typewriters and calculating machines,
  • the " DKW tower" with a collection of DKW cars and engines, u. a. with a cutaway model of a DKW F7 ,
  • a modern body welding system with industrial robots from the beginning of the 21st century,
  • a functioning locksmith's workshop operated via transmissions in a dye works from the early 20th century,
  • a steam hammer from the Saxon machine works from 1923,
  • a class 98 locomotive .

In addition, a working steam engine from Germania from 1896 is on display in the machine house. The machine house, with its representative historical wall paintings, was probably created in this form after the foundry was acquired by Schubert & Salzer AG in 1907 and is intended to reflect the pride of entrepreneurship at the beginning of the 20th century.

Special exhibitions (selection)

2019:

  • The heart of Chemnitz. 220 years of industrial culture. Contribution of the Chemnitz Industrial Museum to the city anniversary "875 years of Chemnitz".
  • I'm all of glass. Marianne Brandt and the glass art of today

2017:

Awards

In 2005 the Chemnitz Industrial Museum was awarded the “European Museum Prize”.

literature

  • Saxon State Ministry of the Interior : Buildings of technology and industry (= particularly endangered cultural monuments in the Free State of Saxony. Bulletin 3). Dresden 1996.
  • Bernd Sikora: Industrial architecture in Saxony: Preserved through new use. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 2010.
  • Oliver Brehm, Jürgen Kabus: 25 years of the Chemnitz Industrial Museum. Experience industry in transition. Chemnitz [2017].

Web links

Commons : Industriemuseum Chemnitz  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ City of Chemnitz press office: New permanent exhibition in the industrial museum opens for visitors from Saturday. Press release 305. In: chemnitz.de. City of Chemnitz, June 12, 2015, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on July 11, 2018 .
  2. ↑ The heart of Chemnitz. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .
  3. ↑ 'I'm made entirely of glass'. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Fashion & Mobile. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 49 '26.7 "  N , 12 ° 53' 58.8"  E