DO! Museum for children

View of the facade of the Eliaskirche

The MACHmit! Museum für Kinder is a children's museum in Berlin . It is located in the secular Protestant Eliaskirche on Senefelderstrasse in the Prenzlauer Berg district .

aims

“Learning shouldn't be a burden, but a pleasure.” Children can discover, try and research on existing and exhibited exhibits in order to learn through play and gain experience. Artistic and manual activities bring complex relationships closer and sharpen the perception of the daily environment. It is also the aim to complement the usual school lessons; Educators should be given the opportunity for additional offers beyond their own district. In addition to museum education, attempts are made to offer playful and artistic activities for children, for example they can celebrate their birthdays with or without their parents in the museum.

history

The museum was created through a sponsoring project, the aim of which was to design exhibitions in which children should more quickly understand their environment and their surroundings through manual grasping . In the course of the post-reunification period , the KINDER- und JUGENDMUSEUM project was created in 1992 by the non-profit association Netzwerk Spiel / Kultur Prenzlauer Berg . In a first project, grandma's everyday culture was presented in the museum construction vehicle, there were accessories for dressing up, large laundry with handwringers and shirts on the line. 1993 was under the topic of soap and took place in a building of the district office under changing topics. Projects were the Jewish school on Rykestrasse and a “Children's Cookbook”. In 1997, the focus was on water in the city under the theme From Water Paradise to Stinky Panke . Various interactive projects for the protection and preservation of the environment were developed. Active exhibits from the events and exhibitions form the basis of today's museum. The conversion of the Eliaskirche, consecrated in 1910, into a museum was completed in 2003 according to plans by the Berlin architect Klaus Block .

organization

MACHmit! Museum is the “MACHmit! Museum für Kinder gGmbH ”. The museum is financed from income, project grants and donations as well as regular funding from the Pankow district of Berlin. It is operated by salaried employees, freelance workers, employees with additional expense allowances and voluntary employees. In addition to changing exhibitions, there is the museum print shop and the traditional soap shop . There are holiday campaigns, events for children and further training for parents and teachers. Rooms in the house can be rented.

Activities and awards

• Official project of the UN World Decade 2007/2008 - "Education for Sustainable Development"
• Design award of the Wüstenrot Foundation "Building for Children" 2004
• Special prize of the German Urban Development Prize 2004
• European Urban Development Award 2005
• Ferdinand von Quast Medal, Berlin Monument Prize
• MIXED-UP, Federal Prize of the Federal Association for Cultural Education for Children and Young People for exemplary cooperation with schools
• Participation in the Venice Architecture Biennale 2006

literature

• Converted Churches . Tectum Publishers, Antwerp 2007, ISBN 978-90-76886-44-2 . Pages 83-89.
• Klaus Block: Conversion of the Eliaskirche to the children and youth museum MACHmit! Berlin. Vertical labyrinth in the nave . In: Claus Käpplinger: architektur aktuell . No. 6, 2005, pp. 132ff, German and English.
• Thomas Lindemann: It was dilapidated and poorly heated. That is why the Elias Church in Berlin needed a new future. It became a hands-on museum for children . In: Kulturspiegel , 1/2005

Web links

• Museum homepage
• Installation of the museum in the listed room of the Eliaskirche
• Architectural drawings (PDF; 705 kB)
• Children conquer a piece of the city. The Elias Church in Prenzlauer Berg . In: Monuments Online 3.2011
• Fairy tale exhibition: The wolf howls at the push of a button , in: Prenzlauer Berg Nachrichten of March 14, 2014.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Network Play / Culture Prenzlauer Berg e. V. ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 17th September 2012 
2. ↑ machmitmuseum.de September 17, 2012

Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 26 "  N , 13 ° 25 ′ 22"  E