Museum of the German Insurance Industry

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The Gotha Museum of the German Insurance Industry was a museum of insurance history in Germany. It was located in Gotha , Bahnhofstrasse 3a and was the headquarters of the Gothaer Lebensversicherungsbank. The Gothaer Feuerversicherungsbank was founded in Gotha in 1820 and the Gothaer Lebensversicherungsbank in 1827.

Frontal view
Stack of files, as an example of the possible scope of a single insured event

building

The building was built according to plans by the Leipzig architect Bruno Eelbo in 1893/1894 in Bahnhofstrasse in the historicism style. It reflects the style elements of the Renaissance and Romantic periods . The three-part relief, which is attached to the striking staircase as a special eye-catcher, was created by the Leipzig sculptor Adolf Lehnert .

The overall architectural appearance of the building appears monumental, thus meeting the desire to represent the bourgeoisie of the time . The solid architecture in historical style embodied stability and security, which was in the interests of Gothaer Lebensversicherungsbank.

The house is open to the public; Since the offices of the Social Court in Gotha and the Thuringian Finance Court are located in the building, photography is not permitted, or only to a limited extent. The Museum of the German Insurance Industry had several rooms for meetings, conferences and events:

  • historical meeting room "Arnoldisaal" (max. 22 people)
  • Library (max. 8 people)
  • Vault
  • Seminar and demonstration room (max. 40 people)
  • Video room with online conference facilities (max. 20 people)
  • Pyramid Hall (max. 150 people)

These rooms are used for other purposes nowadays.

collection

The Museum of the German Insurance Industry was opened in September 1998 and existed until 2006. The basis was a collection of insurance history from Gothaer Insurance, rich in materials and tradition. By the beginning of 2009, most of the holdings were relocated to the Gothaer Insurance Headquarters in Cologne.

In the former insurance museum, visitors were given an overview of how insurance companies advertised and were able to get an impression of the variety of insurance companies . One focus was the Hamburg fire of 1842, which was a financial challenge for Gothaer Feuerversicherungsbank, and a detailed biography of Ernst-Wilhelm Arnoldi (1778–1841), who is considered the "father of modern German insurance".

The Arnoldi archive contained, among other things, personal documents of the founder, files of the two insurance companies and press releases . There was also an extensive inventory of legal and insurance-related journals, mainly from the 20th century.

There were about 5,500 volumes in the library. Most of the collection also came from the 20th century. The inventory contained 160 volumes on history, including biographies, including the standard works German history in the 19th century by Heinrich von Treitschke and the history of the Gothaische Land by August Beck .

Today's "German Insurance Museum Ernst Wilhelm Arnoldi", which has existed in the same building since 2009, is operated on behalf of the City of Gotha by the insurance museum's association of the same name. The association takes care of the regular opening times on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (except on public holidays). The association procures new exhibits to further develop the exhibition, such as B. 2013 a collection of 20 different savings clocks . There are special exhibitions and concerts in the foyer (stairwell) of the building. In addition, a library and an archive are in the construction phase.

The Gothaer honorary citizen Edgar Jannott spoke in November 2017 in the " German Insurance Museum Ernst Wilhelm Arnoldi " at the opening of a new showcase dedicated to his father Kurt Jannott , who was co-founder and chairman of the board of Gothaer Allgemeine Versicherungs AG .

literature

Web links

Commons : Gothaer House of Insurance History  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ gotha.de ( Memento from June 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Jannott honors his father. In: Thuringian General. November 25, 2017, accessed December 31, 2017.

Coordinates: 50 ° 56 '35 "  N , 10 ° 42' 44"  E