Agricultural Museum Berlin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Agricultural Museum Berlin is a former agricultural museum in Berlin .

history

The museum was temporarily housed in the corner house in the center of the picture from 1868 to 1875.

Temporary solution at the Potsdamer Bridge

In mid-August 1861, the Berlin machine factory owner J. Pintus suggested to the Prussian Minister of Agriculture, Count von Pückler , that a museum for agriculture be founded in Berlin. As a result, at the end of October 1861, von Pückler had the State Economics College draw up a corresponding report.

Ludewig Wittmack joined the museum in December 1867 and had been employed there as curator since 1871 . He was sent to Paris as deputy judge for the 1867 World's Fair and was commissioned to organize acquisitions for the Agriculture Museum to be built in Berlin. In mid-May 1868, Minister of Agriculture Werner von Selchow informed King Wilhelm I that the majority of all items currently in the museum had been taken over from the Paris exhibition and that a small part of Selchow in the province of Hanover had been purchased from Hanover provincial funds.

A building at the corner of Potsdamer Strasse 24 and Schöneberger Ufer 26, southwest of the Potsdamer Bridge, was rented for the exhibition space . Two weeks after the opening of the museum, a brief description of the collections on the ground floor of the building appeared in the Wochen-Blatt der Annalen der Landwirthschaft in der Königlich Prussischen Staats. The first visitors had access to a separate print of this description as well as a “ list of the objects in the individual rooms of the agricultural museum ”. After that, the museum had a “ wood cabinet ”, a “ wool cabinet ”, a small and a “ larger machine room ”, a “ plow room ” and a “ library and reading room ”. The provisional character of the museum was also evident in the room designations such as “ On the first corridor ”, “ On the second corridor ”, “ On the staircase leading to the large hall ” and “ In a smaller hall and 3 adjoining rooms ”.

From April 1868 the museum was opened to the general public twice a week free of charge, later usually on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The attempt to introduce Sunday as the fourth opening day from November 1870 on failed after a year.

As early as mid-December 1867, the House of Representatives accepted the application by a majority to acquire suitable land for the museum.

In the autumn of 1873 Wittmack's 230-page general catalog of the Royal Agricultural Museum in Berlin appeared in its second edition. Afterwards a “ wood collection ”, a “ wool collection ”, a “ machine and equipment collection ” and a “ seed and ear and food collection ” as well as “ commercial plants ”, “ herbaria, botanical models ” and were exhibited in 16 halls Objects of " animal science and animal breeding " and " inorganic nature " shown.

At the beginning of August 1874, Wittmack informed the Ministry of Agriculture that he had been admitted to the Philosophical Faculty of Berlin University as a “ private docent for agricultural botany ” and asked the Ministry for permission to give appropriate lectures. He justified his request by saying that he “ hopes to arouse more and more interest in the museum, including in scientific circles, through the lectures, and on the other hand to constantly revitalize the museum through science. "

Museum building (ground floor and first floor) in Invalidenstraße 42.

New building in Invalidenstrasse

In a letter to the State Ministry of February 1873, Agriculture Minister Otto von Königsmarck referred to the property on Invalidenstrasse that the Minister of Commerce had offered to other departments and was no longer used by the iron foundry . After a six-month dispute between the Ministries of Commerce, Culture and Agriculture, which registered all claims on the property, Königsmarck renounced the entire iron foundry property at the end of July 1873 and contented himself with building sites for an agricultural museum and a machine hall. In mid-November 1873, the three ministries agreed on the division of the property, with the eastern side going to the agricultural museum. At the end of January 1874 the Prussian House of Representatives approved by a large majority funds for the construction of the museum with a machine hall and in mid-April 1874 Wilhelm I approved the new building " for the agricultural museum and agricultural teaching institute " on the aforementioned property with just one line .

At the end of March 1876, the architect August Tiede informed the “ Commission for the construction of the agricultural museum and teaching institute ” that “ the complete separation of the museum from the teaching institute ” was taken into account and that “ museum purposes the ground floor and the first floor of the building, but the second floor was assigned to the teaching institute ”. Two thirds of the building at Invalidenstrasse 42 was originally constructed as a museum building. After the museum and teaching institute moved in the spring and autumn of 1880, they were given the official designation “ United Agricultural Teaching Institute and Museum in Berlin ” for a few months .

In February 1881 the name “ Agricultural College ” was applied for and approved instead of this “ rambling designation ” because it “ corresponds to the meaning of the organization and clearly shows the position of the institute in relation to related institutions. “The museum was thus subordinate to the university and“ subordinate to the relevant specialist docents. "

In his report to Wilhelm I of February 1881, Agriculture Minister Robert Lucius von Ballhausen formulated a goal for the museum's machine department that was more of a trade fair: “ In the large, glass-roofed inner courtyard of the building, a permanent machine exhibition should always give farmers a picture of the showcase the latest and greatest inventions in this important field. "

In 1906, “ The Royal Agricultural University in Berlin. Festschrift to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary. “Ed. By the teaching staff, edited by Ludwig Wittmack. The Festschrift contains several photographs of the museum's exhibition halls, e. E.g. on page 77 a photograph of the middle room of the museum department “ Zootechnisches Institut ”.

In 1913, the location of the building was briefly described in the Guide to the Museum : “ The building, built in the Italian Renaissance style, is right next to the Museum of Natural History and near the building of the State Geological Institute and Mining Academy. It has size and shape in common with the latter, so that both appear as the wings of the more distant central building, the Museum of Natural History. "

Departments of the museum in 1913

According to the “ Guide through the Museum ” there were nine departments in 1913: the “ Machine and Model Department ” headed by Gustav Fischer, the “ Ceramic Department ” (management vacant), the “ Building Construction Department ” under government and building advisor Noack , the “ Zoological Department ” under Richard Hesse, the “ Zootechnical Department ” with the chief C. Lehmann, the “ Department for Inland Fisheries ” with the chief Paulus Schlemenz, the “ Vegetable Department ” under Ludewig Wittmack, the “ Department for Soil and Fertilizers ", Set up by Albert Orth, and the" Mineralogical-geological-soil science department "under H. Gruner.

Backwardness of the museum

At the beginning of September 1926 Friedrich Schucht reported that the museum department “ Geology, Mineralogy and Soil Science ” , which was subordinate to him, had not been adapted to “ the current state of science ” in recent years . In particular, he considered soil science to be “ so scientifically backward ” that he considered closing it down. Schucht saw the reasons for the backwardness of his museum department in the lack of financial support.

On the basis of an extensive report by Ludwig Brühl, professor and curator at the Institute and Museum for Oceanography and lecturer for sea fishing at the Agricultural University, " who had extensive experience in museum matters ", the university came to the assessment in early February 1930 that " the museum as a whole, from a structural point of view, could only fulfill its purpose in a highly imperfect way in the current state ”and that“ with regard to the existing material ”the arrangement was“ completely outdated and backward ”.

At the beginning of September 1931 Brühl, who had meanwhile been given “ the management of the museum expansion ”, presented a 17-page memorandum on the “ redesign of the museum ” in which he finally hoped “ in ever wider circles of the people, understanding of the tasks and significance of the to awaken German agriculture ”. The Prussian Agriculture Minister Heinrich Steiger agreed to Brühl's proposals and expected from “ the heads of the individual departments of the museum ” that “ they will show the necessary interest in the redesign of the museum ” and “ under the aggravating circumstances the necessary measures to the best of their ability ”.

Closure of the museum in 1935

From “ July to the end of September 1931 the museum was open three days a week ” and during this time it had 172 visitors. “ During the same period in 1932, the museum was only open to the public on Sundays and was visited by 87 people during this period. "

From 1935, the “ public agricultural museum” was permanently closed and transformed into a teaching collection for the university itself. “ Friedrich Schucht , who, according to the university's student body in December 1933,“ was (was) the only party member among the ordinaries before January of this year and for a long time ”and was appointed rector of the university at the end of December of the same year because of this NSDAP membership , justified the closure of the museum as follows: “ An agricultural museum in Germany open to the general public would have to experience a completely different, gigantic and a whole range of issues comprehensive layout and design in accordance with the extraordinary importance of the German peasantry and their tasks today than would be possible within the framework of the Berlin museum building. "

Web links

Commons : Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule Berlin  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage (GStA PK) I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20052, fol. 4 r, 11 r / v
  2. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 89 No. 31929, fol. 51 r / v
  3. ↑ Annals of Agriculture in the Royal Prussian States. Week sheet. Published by the Presidium of the Royal. Landes-Oekonomie-Kollegium. No. 16 (April 15, 1868) pp. 145 f. and No. 17 (April 22, 1868), p. 158.
  4. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 76 V c Sect. 2 Tit. 23 LITT. A No. 78, fol. 2 ff.
  5. ↑ See GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20053
  6. ^ Stenographic reports on the negotiations of the Prussian House of Representatives (20th session on December 19, 1867), p. 591.
  7. ^ Ludewig Wittmack: General catalog of the Royal Agricultural Museum in Berlin. Berlin 1873.
  8. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20065
  9. ^ Stenographic reports on the negotiations of the Prussian House of Representatives (33rd session on January 23, 1874), p. 765.
  10. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 76 V a Sekt. 2 Tit. XIX No. 19 Vol. 1, fol. 156 r
  11. ↑ August Tiede, The former agricultural college in Berlin , accessed on July 22, 2017.
  12. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B 24793, fol. 7 r, 8 v
  13. ↑ Handbook on the Royal Prussian Court and State for the year 1880/81 , p. 203.
  14. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 89 No. 31929, fol. 26 r, 27 r
  15. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 89 No. 31929, fol. 26 r / v
  16. ↑ Kgl. Agricultural University Berlin: Guide through the museum . Fourth, revised edition. Berlin 1913, p. 5.
  17. ↑ Kgl. Agricultural University in Berlin: Guide through the museum. Fourth, revised edition. Berlin 1913.
  18. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20256, fol. 43 r
  19. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20256, fol. 77 r / v
  20. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20256, fol. 108 r, 125 r
  21. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20258, fol. 126 r
  22. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20256, fol. 128 BC
  23. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20068, fol. 182 f.
  24. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 87 B No. 20256

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '49.2 "  N , 13 ° 22' 50.2"  E