Museum Service Cologne

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The Cologne Museum Service is the central city institution for museum education, education and mediation work in Cologne's museums. It was founded on April 1, 1965, making it the second institution of its kind in what was then the Federal Republic of Germany .

The Museumsdienst is the publisher of a number of exhibition and museum publications and is responsible for up to 8,000 events for up to 150,000 guests annually with over 20 permanent and over 140 freelance workers. In addition, he is responsible for the museums' general external communication and implements advertising and marketing measures.

history

Although the beginnings of museum education in Cologne date back to the end of the 19th century, when Carl Aldenhoven offered guided tours and lectures for teachers and workers in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum , it initially played a subordinate role in the post-war period compared to new museum buildings and the restoration of collections. Only when the general debates on educational reform in the 1960s also included museums did the museums' educational and mediation mandate come back into focus. The model was both museum education impulses from the USA and Western Europe, as well as earlier concepts from Germany, such as the Hamburg art historian Alfred Lichtwark . The series of publications, Museums in Cologne, has been published in Cologne since 1961 under the general director of the museums Gert von der Osten . Bulletin , which should serve the public relations of the museums. Von der Osten also initiated the first of a series of exhibitions specifically aimed at children and young people in 1965.

These activities culminated on April 1, 1965 in the establishment of the "External Department of Museums". This initiative was significantly promoted by Kurt Hackenberg, then Cologne's head of culture . The first director (1965–1978) of the museum service was the art historian Günther Ott .

In the years that followed, Ott developed numerous educational programs for school classes and groups, including the “Art and Museum Days” for entire schools and teacher training.

In 1978, Ott was succeeded by the art historian Jürgen Rohmeder (1978–1982). During his term of office the foundation of the Friends of the Museum Pedagogical Society , which not only supports the work of the museum service through donations, apart from the individual associations of the museums, but also conceives and offers its own events. Rohmeder also expanded the specialist staff.

A stagnation in the conceptual further development became apparent in the 1980s. After job cuts and public discussion, the general director of the museums, Hugo Borger, worked with the cultural department to develop a new concept that focused not only on didactic communication but also on increased media work and more responsibility for public relations. In organizational terms, individual museum educators were then assigned directly to individual museums and worked more closely in their teams. In the renaming to "Museum Service" in 1986, the service mandate for the museums should be emphasized more strongly. From 1985 to 2006 the archaeologist Peter Noelke was  head of the museum service; his successor on April 1, 2007 was the art historian Matthias Hamann .

Target groups and working methods

From the very beginning, Cologne museum education addressed both children and young people as well as other target groups - such as senior citizens or people with disabilities. In the first few years, the focus was on direct mediation work through guided tours and the publication of the text teaching in the museum . From 1969 onwards, the offer was expanded to include practical and creative offers, especially for children. Activities such as “Children paint in the art gallery”, holiday courses or special courses for schools and kindergartens were part of it. From 1978 onwards, practical offers also developed for young people and adults. The resulting space requirements in the museums could only be met gradually.

After the restructuring in the 1980s, the cooperation with the schools was deepened by the "museum schools", in which teachers give specialist lessons on a daily basis in individual museums.

The so-called “touch collections”, a compilation of exhibits, have existed since 1993 to improve the haptic-interactive experience for visitors.

“Maiden voyage” of the museum bus in January 2015

In 2015, in the 50th year of its existence, the Museum Service presented the “Museum Bus”. It alternately brings school classes from the Rhein-Sieg district , the Rhein-Erft district , the district Euskirchen , the Rheinisch-Bergisch and the Oberbergischer district to all municipal museums and the Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum for two weeks in a row .

Publications

After the institutionalization of museum education in 1965, the external department published the text Lessons in the Museum in 1970 . For the first time, it prepared the knowledge of museum exhibits broken down according to type of school, grades and subjects. The publication was expanded and reissued four years later and also met with a multilingual response in the museum world.

Some of the nationwide first museum catalogs especially for children were developed by Renate Friedländer for the museum service from 1974. In addition, there were numerous working materials for schools and educators as well as short guides for adults.

The series of publications Kölner Museums-Bulletin, with which the museum service regularly published reports, research and news from the museums of the city of Cologne, appeared from 1987 to spring 2010, when it was discontinued for financial reasons.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Museum Service Cologne: Information
  2. ↑ Birgit Kilp: All for culture. The Kurt Hackenberg era in Cologne 1955–1979 . Wienand Verlag, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-87909-978-8 , p. 59.
  3. ↑ Heijo Klein: The Museum Pedagogical Society in: Peter Noelke, Richard Kreidler (Ed.): Museum Pedagogy in Cologne. Concepts, offers, topics p. 107
  4. ^ Peter Noelke : Museum Education in Cologne: Developments, Concepts, Offers - an Overview. in: Peter Noelke, Richard Kreidler (Ed.): Museum Education in Cologne. Concepts, offers, topics pp. 10–29
  5. ↑ Pay off his debts in retirement; ksta.de, March 28, 2006
  6. ↑ The new manager comes from Nuremberg ksta.de, January 23, 2007
  7. ↑ Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty Brněnské univerzity. G, Řada sociálněvědná. 1975, vol. 24, eat. G19, pp. 135-139
  8. ↑ Cologne Museum | Bulletin