Ravensburger Museum

Ravensburger Museum
place	Ravensburg, Germany
opening	May 2010
Visitors	approx. 40,000 annually
surface	1,000 m², 3 floors
Website	museum-ravensburger.de

The Ravensburger Museum is located in the old town of Ravensburg . It deals thematically with the history of the Ravensburger games and book publisher . Together with the Economic Museum , the Museum Humpis-Quartier and the Art Museum, it forms the so-called Museum Quarter in Ravensburg.

building

The museum building is one of the oldest patrician houses in the city of Ravensburg and is protected as a cultural monument.

In 1416, the Möttelin family of long-distance traders moved their family seat to Marktstrasse 26. They added another floor to the two that were already there and had a new roof built. This external shape has been preserved to this day.

In 1473 the Besserer family bought the house, they were among the richest citizens of the city and were members of the large trading company. Barons Schellenberg zu Kisslegg, who were related by marriage to the family, inherited the property in 1500, but lost it after a foreclosure auction.

From 1660 on, various patrician families lived in today's museum, including the Vorarlberg lawyer Johann Michael Schatz and councilor Anton Gaist von Wildegg. During this time, the residents had various conversions carried out in order to adapt the rooms to their requirements.

In 1737 Franz Joseph von Gerer moved into the house, three years later he was elected mayor and had various representative rooms refurbished. Particularly noteworthy is a ceiling painting, which shows the four cardinal virtues of justice, bravery, moderation and prudence. It can be seen today on the first floor of the museum. The artistic facade painting was created in 1788 on behalf of the mayor Franz Balthasar.

Otto Maier's cupboard

In 1896 the building became the headquarters of the book and games publisher "Otto Maier Verlag", later Ravensburger Verlag. Until 1962, the entire publishing business of Ravensburger Verlag was handled in Marktstrasse. From 1962, the game production and game publishing company and finally in 2005 the Ravensburger Buchverlag moved out of the building.

The main building was rebuilt from September 2007 to May 2010 and has been open all year round as the Ravensburger Museum.

exhibition

In the Ravensburger Museum, visitors can find out, among other things, how games are made, what jobs there are in a publishing house or how the fit of puzzle pieces is ensured.

The ground floor of the museum deals with the company's founder Otto Maier and the company's history. Maier's desk and cupboard can be seen here, for example, and the first Ravensburger board game “Reise um die Erde” can be seen. Visitors can also see the modern production in a film here.

On the first floor of the museum, the individual steps in developing a board game are illustrated using the example of the game “ The Crazy Labyrinth ”.

The publisher's various book series are in focus on the second floor. Phenomena that were discussed in the children's non-fiction series “Wieso? Why? Why? ”Is explained.

The exhibition is designed to be interactive, children and young people can take part in the tiptoi museum rally. It turns tiptoi , the talking pin from the digital audio learning system of Ravensburg, at each station, a quiz question. This is solved by tapping a reply card. In addition, there are 1,300 games, puzzles and other products in the museum that are ready to play and read. The inner courtyard offers more space for games in the open air.