All Saints' Day Museum
The All Saints Museum is located in the old town of Schaffhausen . It is housed in the former Benedictine monastery of All Saints . The most important museum in the region combines archeology, history, art and natural history under one roof. The museum is one of the largest museums in Switzerland in terms of area. It was visited by 33,871 visitors in 2018.
history
Foundation and development
In the middle of the 19th century, the desire for a museum arose in Schaffhausen. A project for a new museum building at the Schwabentor was dropped again around 1900. On June 11, 1919, the Schaffhausen city council commissioned the architects Schäfer and Martin Risch to work out plans to transform the monastery building into a museum. The museum was conceived as a universal museum, as a place where the art and cultural history collections are stored and presented. It should convey a comprehensive picture of Schaffhausen's culture and in this sense not only be a “unified museum”, but also an “exemplary local museum”. In addition, the former Allerheiligen monastery complex, threatened by decay, was to be permanently preserved by integrating it into the museum complex. The Swiss National Museum in Zurich served as an important model .
After seven years of construction, the All Saints Museum was opened in 1928 with 42 exhibition rooms. In 1935, the city council decided to expand it. In 1938, city president and museum sponsor Walther Bringolf opened the extension by the architects August Arter and Martin Risch. Karl Sulzberger (1876–1963) was the first director of the museum until 1942.
On April 1, 1944, the city of Schaffhausen was mistakenly bombed by US bombers . The All Saints' Day Museum was also severely damaged and irreplaceable cultural and artistic assets were destroyed. Over 70 works of art by old masters, including nine pictures by Schaffhausen's Tobias Stimmer , were destroyed. In a Swiss solidarity campaign, cantons, municipalities, companies and private individuals donated many paintings and works of art to the museum. This could only be reopened on May 18, 1946 after a two-year reconstruction.
After 1946, under the direction of the museum director Walter Ulrich Guyan, the great era of international art exhibitions began, which attracted hundreds of thousands to Schaffhausen (including 1947: "Masterpieces of Old German Painting", 1949: " Rembrandt and his time", 1962: Max Gubler , 1968: Edvard Munch ). Numerous museums had been destroyed in neighboring countries, and the mayor Bringolf had excellent international relations. Many museums were also willing to lend their works of art to Schaffhausen out of gratitude for the humanitarian aid provided by Switzerland.
In the 1980s, the museum was expanded with the integration of the natural history collections and the establishment of a permanent natural history exhibition. The exhibition on the top floor of the museum is considered to be a replacement for the Natural History Museum that was destroyed on April 1, 1944.
In 1991 Marcel Ebnöther donated his important antique collection to the city of Schaffhausen . For the presentation of the collection, the museum expanded into the former worsted spinning mill. In 2005, the voters of the city of Schaffhausen approved a loan of CHF 7.8 million for the structural and content renovation of the museum. The historical and archaeological department was redesigned in stages by 2015.
The city of Schaffhausen is responsible for the institution. The canton of Schaffhausen as well as foundations, associations and sponsors make additional financial contributions.
Building and plant
A large part of the museum is housed in the premises of the former All Saints Benedictine monastery.
With the adoption of the monastery name "zu Allerheiligen" reference is made to the universality of the medieval monastery and the diversity of the branches of knowledge represented here is expressed. Location and architecture, which convey 1000 years of building history, form part of the content of the museum.
The entire complex also includes the cathedral, the herb garden and the largest freely accessible cloister in Switzerland. Here is the "Schiller bell", which inspired the famous poet to write his song about the bell.
In 2001 the museum was expanded spatially and qualitatively with the opening of the exhibition “From the Dead Sea to the Pacific”. The exhibition shows a representative selection from the Ebnöther collection, one of the most important antique collections in Europe. The exhibition is located in a hall of the former worsted spinning mill. This is connected to the museum by a covered walkway over Baumgartenstrasse.
New media and interactive forms of presentation are used today in the All Saints Day Museum. It also has a café and a museum shop.
Mission and concept
With its extensive permanent exhibitions and several annual changing exhibitions, the museum illuminates a variety of topics. Interdisciplinary special exhibitions are intended to encourage discussion of current cultural and scientific issues.
Permanent exhibitions and collections
Archeology of the region
The collection of archaeological artefacts is largely owned by the Canton of Schaffhausen and is looked after by the Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology.
The permanent archaeological exhibition is entitled “From the Stone Age to the Romans”. The exhibition shows objects from the Paleolithic Kesslerloch cave and the Abri Schweizerbild . Finds from the Neolithic Gächlingen settlements and the Weier bei Thayngen site, which is included in the inventory of the UNESCO World Heritage Site , can also be seen. The diorama of the Kesslerloch created by a German set designer in 1939 is also supplemented by modern video technology, which shows the current state of knowledge. In addition, finds from the Roman settlements Iuliomagus near Schleitheim and the Eschenz fort near Stein am Rhein are shown.
Archaeological Collection Ebnöther
The antique collection, which comprises a good 6000 objects, is of international importance. It was compiled by Marcel Ebnöther (1920–2008), a passionate collector and expert on ancient cultures, and given to the city of Schaffhausen in 1991. The focus of the collection is in the New World. Around 3000 artefacts are of Peruvian and Ecuadorian origin and form the most comprehensive documentation of pre-Hispanic works of art in the two countries in Switzerland. A highlight are the formative gold work from Peru. They are described by the Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva as the largest and most important group of such finds outside of America. The majority of the objects are grave goods. The collection covers almost the entire spectrum of human creativity, from simple utensils made of organic material to elaborate gems made of precious metal, including the cocoa cup of a Mayan king, a Mexican mother goddess that 27 small children climb around, Etruscan gold jewelry and much more - even the trophy skull of a Nazca Indian. The internationally acclaimed collection is unparalleled in its kind.
Cultural history collection
The cultural and historical collection contains around 25,000 objects on the history of the city and region of Schaffhausen and its residents. In addition, there is the most important collection of playing cards in Switzerland and a large numismatic collection. Among the handicraft objects are works by renowned artists such as Hans Jacob II. Läublin (1664–1730), Georg Michael Moser (1706–1783), Johann Conrad Speissegger (1720–1789), Lorenz Spengler (1720–1807) and Johann Heinrich Hurter (1734–1799) should be mentioned.
“Schaffhausen im Fluss” is the name of the new permanent exhibition on the history of the city and region of Schaffhausen. The focus is on people, their joys and sorrows, their conflicts and achievements. Three tours lead into the past:
- 1000–1500: Settlement development, Counts of Nellenburg , everyday life in the monastery, sacred art and Reformation (opening on June 11, 2010)
- 1500–1800: trade, politics, home decor, guilds and bourgeois life
- 1800–2000: Revolution, industrialization , the Moserdamm model , urban life, World War II , consumption
City models, historical rooms, interactive computer and audio stations as well as film documents bring history to life. The exhibition includes the famous " Onyx von Schaffhausen ": an antique cameo with a medieval setting made of gold and precious stones.
Art and graphics collection
The art collection includes pictures, sculptures and graphics from the 15th century to the present day. These include works by artists such as Tobias Stimmer , Johann Jakob Schalch , Lucas Cranach the Elder. Ä. , Barthel Beham and Johann Heinrich Füssli or Ferdinand Hodler and Otto Dix . Swiss art, especially contemporary art, is a focus of the collection. This includes, for example, works by Yves Netzhammer , Cécile Wick and Uwe Wittwer . The permanent exhibition shows a representative selection from the collection.
Natural history collection
In accordance with the collection strategy, the geological, zoological and botanical collections depict the landscape history and biodiversity of the Schaffhausen region. The collections of Ferdinand Schalch (geology), Leopold and Franz Joseph Würtenberger (geology), Friedrich Ris (butterfly) and Samuel Brunner (herbarium) deserve special mention.
The collections are also looked after by the Schaffhausen Natural Research Society. Based on the collections, the natural history exhibition presents the geology, landscape history as well as flora and fauna of Randen, Rhine Falls and Klettgau, among others.
Museum Stemmler
The collection created by the furrier, taxidermist and conservationist Carl Stemmler (1882–1971) comprises around 5000 objects. The main component is the exquisite bird collection, in which most of the native breeding birds are represented. The emphasis is on bearded vultures and golden eagles, for whose protection Stemmler was strongly committed. Among other things, he has collected the material of numerous clumps to prove that bearded vultures and golden eagles are not child-eating monsters. Thanks to his furrier workshop and related contacts, the collection includes numerous specimens from native mammals as well as furs from all over the world.
The museum is located as a branch of the Museum zu Allerheiligen in the former home of Carl Stemmler on Sporrengasse in Schaffhausen's old town. As a contemporary document, the house is reminiscent of the cabinet of curiosities and curiosities of earlier centuries.
literature
- Schaffhauser magazine . Issue No. 2 from June 2010.
- Matthias Fischer: Museum guide . Schaffhausen 2018.
- Museum zu Allerheiligen (ed.): Art from rubble. The bombing of the All Saints Museum in 1944 and its consequences , Baden 2019, ISBN 978-3-03919-489-6 .
Web links
- All Saints Day Museum website
- Museum Stemmler on www.museums.ch
- Schaffhausen City Archives: Bombing damage April 1, 1944
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Daniel Grütter: The beginnings of the Schaffhausen local history museum at Allerheiligen . In: Museum zu Allerheiligen (Ed.): Art from rubble. The bombing of the All Saints Museum in 1944 and its consequences , Baden 2019, ISBN 978-3-03919-489-6 .
- ↑ Andreas Rüfenacht: The destroyed art department and the consequences of its destruction . In: Museum zu Allerheiligen (Ed.): Art from rubble. The bombing of the All Saints Museum in 1944 and its consequences , Baden 2019, ISBN 978-3-03919-489-6 .
- ↑ Luca Stoppa: Filling the gaps - the art and culture donations for the museum . In: Museum zu Allerheiligen (Ed.): Art from rubble. The bombing of the All Saints Museum in 1944 and its consequences , Baden 2019, ISBN 978-3-03919-489-6 .
- ↑ Urs Weibel: More than a dinosaur from the ashes - the cultural donations for the Natural History Museum . In: Museum zu Allerheiligen (Ed.): Art from rubble. The bombing of the All Saints' Day Museum in 1944 and its consequences . Baden 2019, ISBN 978-3-03919-489-6 .