State Coin Collection Munich

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The museum entrance in the residence

The State Coin Collection in Munich is the central numismatic collection in Bavaria . It is located in the Munich Residenz and houses over 300,000 coins , banknotes , money tokens and medals from antiquity to the present day.

history

The Kunstkammer , founded by the Bavarian Duke Albrecht V , owned more than 7,000 coins by the end of the 16th century. His son, Duke Wilhelm V , continued the collection. At that time the art chamber was housed in the old stables building on Munich Hofgraben.

During the Thirty Years' War , part of the electoral collection fell to the Swedes as spoils of war. The rest formed the basis of a new Bavarian coin collection.

With the accession of the Wittelsbach Palatine Karl Theodor to the throne , the Palatinate and Bavarian collections were combined. As a result of the secularization during the Napoleonic period, many monastic coin collections came to the Bavarian state. Most of it was melted down, but the curator of the Münzkabinett had a right of advance and thereby expanded the collection. In addition, two complete collections were acquired by purchase from St. Emmeram in Regensburg and St. Peter in Salzburg .

In 1807 the Royal Coin Cabinet was removed from the court administration and placed under the authority of the Academy of Sciences . The Crown Prince and later King Ludwig I was very interested in the coin collection because of his enthusiasm for ancient Greece and spent a lot of time there. As part of his art policy, Ludwig I regularly issued commemorative coins that were eligible for circulation for notable events or deserving contemporary people.

Through further acquisitions, the collection was greatly expanded throughout the 19th century. In particular, the areas of the Middle Ages and Modern Times were expanded, as the focus had been on ancient coins until then.

In addition, at the beginning of the 19th century there was a growing awareness of the cultural and historical value of archaeological finds in Bavaria. In 1808, the Bavarian Ordinance for the Protection of Coins and Other Antiquities was issued. As a result, over 330 finds were reported to the Münzkabinett in the 19th century. At the beginning, only missing pieces were selected from the finds to supplement the collection. Gradually, however, the realization took hold that the complete finds are also important for historical research. In principle, this regulation still applies to the Free State of Bavaria today: Half of a find belongs to the finder, the other half to the property owner (private or state).

In the first three decades of the 20th century, the conservator Georg Habich expanded the coin cabinet, especially with Renaissance medals and plaques. In 1961 Arthur Koenig's Rechenpfennig collection was added, which included a large number of items from the Nuremberg area . Paul Arndt's collection followed later, with a focus on ancient stone cutting art .

During the Second World War, the headquarters of the collection, the academy building on Neuhauser Strasse, was destroyed. Since the extensive numismatic specialist library was outsourced, it survived the war unscathed. In 1963 today's exhibition rooms were opened in the Munich Residence.

Directors

collection

The collection includes coins, medals, banknotes, securities and cut stones. The collection currently comprises around 300,000 objects. The oldest objects date from the 3rd millennium BC. Today the focus of the Münzkabinett is on ancient coins, Renaissance medals and Bavarian history thalers .

Coins

In addition to coins from all over the world, an important area of ​​the coin collection is the coinage of the Bavarian and Palatinate Wittelsbachers . This also includes the formerly independent territories (e.g. Franconia ) and cities (e.g. Nuremberg ) that were absorbed in Bavaria .

The Bavarian history thaler was originally intended to circulate as a means of payment. The memory of outstanding Bavarian personalities and events should be kept alive in the population by immortalizing them on coins in circulation. The original idea came from the curator at the time, Franz Ignaz von Streber . Ludwig I took up the idea after taking office and had a long series coined, which was continued by his successors.

Medals

The focal points of this collection include the German Renaissance medals from the 16th century and the corresponding molded models made of hardwood or soft stone. This area was set up by the conservator Georg Habich, a specialist in the field of German Renaissance medals, in the first 30 years of the 20th century. He also had a great influence on the design of German medals during this period.

The newer and modern art of medals also takes up a lot of space. This flourished again especially in France and Germany from the end of the 19th century. The Munich Medalists' Circle of Artists, co-founded by the State Coin Collection in 1988, is in close contact with the collection.

Paper money

This part of the collection shows paper money from all over the world and from all eras, for example

Cut stones

One of the largest acquisitions in this area of ​​the museum was the collection of antique gems and cameos by Paul Arndt .

Coin lockers

This is where the cabinets that housed the holdings of the Münzkabinett until 1960 are collected. The coin cabinet with inlays in wood and metal in the technique of André-Charles Boulle is a fine example of French court art. The two coin cabinets with rococo decor come from the Salzburg monastery of St. Peter . The predominantly Japanese lacquer cabinets are outstanding. These pieces of furniture, possibly acquired by Elector Max Emmanuel , were only converted into coin cabinets for the collection at the beginning of the 19th century.

Library

The coin collection maintains the largest public numismatic library in Germany. It contains over 26,000 volumes on numismatics, economic history and general history from antiquity to modern times. There are also 60 journals, 100 Münzmandate , 50 manuscripts, various convolutions (z. B. estate Heinrich Buchenau ) and find files. It is a reference library with a reading room and photocopying facilities.

Exhibitions

2016/2017

Karl Kiefer, Medal Diabolus Perdidit Europam (The Devil corrupts Europe), 1914. State Coin Collection, Munich. Photo: Nicolai Kästner

From May 11, 2016 to March 26, 2017, the exhibition "Europe's Verderben 1914 1918. German and Austrian Medals on the First World War" will be shown.

The First World War gave rise to a large number of medals in Germany and Austria as permanent mementos of a supposedly heroic and great time. Companies produced large editions for a larger audience; works by individual artists and editions in smaller numbers were more demanding. Presentation and styles are very different. In addition to works of cabaret, there is sturdy warlike and nationalist propaganda , which is often offensive to us today. Propaganda, imagery and historical background require more detailed explanation today.

The exhibition shows around 200 medals, divided into 24 subject areas

2014/2015

Friedrich Brenner, Structure II (Networked Structures), bronze

From October 10, 2014 to May 3, 2015 the exhibition "Nature - Chance - Art. Nature in the medal work of Friedrich Brenner" will be shown.

For the sculptor and medalist Friedrich Brenner (* 1939), nature is one of the main concerns. He sees nature threatened in many ways by humans, his greed, his ruthlessness, through increasing consumption. Friedrich Brenner expressed this threat to nature in many medals. In contrast, others show the untouched nature, the wilderness, as Brenner especially experienced it in Canada. This exhibition is primarily dedicated to Brenner's depictions of nature, many of which were created using Brenner's technique, which is probably unique in medal art.

Brenner captures a wide variety of natural forms, such as random traces of flow and imprints, transfers them to relief and medals and turns them into art through his design and reinterpretation. In doing so, he often allows us to see it in a completely new and often double way, a flow track becomes a coastal landscape, and it remains a flow track. So: from nature by chance to art.

The exhibition showed around 100 medals and relief works, as well as drawings and sculptures.

2014

Hubertus von Pilgrim, medal on Hermann Hesse, 2003

From May 15 to October 9, 2014 the exhibition "100 heads, created by the sculptor, engraver and medalist Hubertus von Pilgrim" was shown.

The sculptor, copper engraver and medalist Hubertus von Pilgrim (* 1931) is characterized by a humanistic and literary education, it is constitutive for his personality and for his art. He found “interlocutors” and an artistic challenge in personalities of history and spirit. In this way, an impressive portrait gallery was created on medals as in the sculpture, accompanied by an intensive intellectual examination of life and work.

Hubertus von Pilgrim came to the medal late. It was not until 1984 that he, who once described himself as “Hauer and Stecher”, found this small special form of relief through an order. Since then, he has been attracted by the “interplay between miniature and monument”, as he himself called it, and this is how large-scale monuments based on medals such as the Ludwig-Erhard-Brunnen in Bad Godesberg were created. The artist is also attracted by the interplay of image and writing in the form of a concise linguistic statement brought into a calligraphic form.

The exhibition featured famous and other heads, including a newly created monumental relief wall with portraits and quotes from writers. Other works round off the exhibition, such as copperplate engravings that depict Chinese poetry, sculptural works depicting larger groups of people, and medals that bring quotations and proverbs into an adequate relief plastic form.

2013-2014

Hans Krafft the Elder Ä. , based on a design by Albrecht Dürer , Dedication Medal of the City of Nuremberg, 1521, Munich, State Coin Collection

From November 22nd, 2013 to March 15th, 2014 the exhibition Wettstreit in Erz. Portrait medals of the German Renaissance was shown.

After 1500, more and more people were interested in the possibility of recording one's own portrait for later times. In addition to portrait painting, the portrait medal became a preferred medium of the time for this purpose. In Germany she had her first success at the Reichstag in Augsburg in 1518. At that time secular and clerical gentlemen ordered medals with her likeness from the sculptor Hans Schwarz .

Soon other masters, who often had their roots in sculpture or goldsmithing, began to offer themselves as "Conterfetter". The production of the medals began in a very different artistic way. Many masters came from southern Germany, worked in imperial cities such as Augsburg or Nuremberg and also often went on tour. In addition, Saxony, but also peripheral regions such as Tyrol, Bohemia and Poland played a role.

The exhibition, which was brought about by art historians from the University of Munich and the Münzkabinette of Vienna and Dresden, shed light on the role of the portrait medal in the culture of the German Renaissance for the first time. At the same time, the Bavarian National Museum is presenting works by Hans Schwarz.

At the same time, the coin collection showed the accompanying special exhibition "Renaissance on banknotes", with the representation of personalities as well as works of fine art and architecture. With this exhibition, the HVB Stiftung Geldscheinsammlung is presenting itself for the first time in the State Coin Collection in Munich.

2012-2013

Constantine the Great, silver medallion, Ticinum or Rome, 315, obverse: Constantine with Christogram on the helmet

The exhibition Konstantin 312 was shown from October 31, 2012 to September 30, 2013 .

The exhibition dealt with the rise of the Roman emperor Constantine under the sign of Christ. The exhibition focuses on the famous Constantinian medallion from the State Coin Collection. The year marks a central date in world history: on October 28, 312, 1,700 years ago, the army of Constantine the Great defeated Maxentius' troops outside the walls of Rome ( Battle of the Milvian Bridge ) after he was supposedly ordered in a dream to have the mark of Christ placed on the shields of his soldiers. Even if the victor in Christ probably initially only saw a different manifestation of the Roman sun god Sol invictus , with his decision to promote the Christian religion and church he laid the foundations for the next centuries of Western Roman and Byzantine history. The historical significance of the Constantinian medallion is that it proves that the Christogram was used as a magical sign of victory for Constantine from 315 at the latest.

Using the coins, the exhibition showed the religious and political prerequisites, Constantine's predecessors and rivals, his beginnings as emperor, Constantine after the victory over Maxentius as ruler in the western part of the empire, his family, his co-regent in the east and last rival Licinius , Constantine after Victory over Licinius and finally the coins on his death.

2011–2012

Kauko Räsänen, medal at the UN environmental protection conference in Stockholm, 1972, front side

From November 18, 2011 to October 21, 2012 the exhibition was Kauko Räsänen. Showing new ways in medal art.

The heyday of modern Finnish medal art began in the 1950s and 1960s. The sculptor and medalist Kauko Räsänen, born in 1926, was an outstanding representative of this art for several decades . Sculpture and medal have the same rank for him. His medal work comprises a total of 188 medals, which range from 1952 to 2004 and thus cover the entire second half of the 20th century.

Räsänens medals are characterized by a multi-layered symbolism, their sculptural design and their special aesthetics. Räsänens' 'New Way' suggested in the title was the 'invention' of the multi-part medal with up to three parts and six image sides that are coordinated with one another and can be put on top of one another perfectly; thus they result in a self-contained whole. Such a new type of medal is given an extensive and complex multi-page image program, which, as is typical for medals, is condensed into the small space available.

The representation of femininity, the beautiful undressed woman, also of young couples and of the unity and polarity of the sexes runs like a red thread through Räsänens medal oeuvre. More than 40 of his medals belong to this topic. When asked why femininity is so important in his art, the artist initially responded with a mischievous smile, then said:

“First of all, I love the woman, she is more vivid in rendering than the man. It represents the continuation of life - and art is female. ”The connection between water and woman stands in Räsänens representations for the miracle of creation and birth. This is just one - recurring - example of the rich symbolism of the medals by this life-affirming and deeply humane artist.

The exhibition showed all 188 medals of the artist with all front, back and inside and puts them in the context of modern Finnish and international medal art.

2010-2011

Celts, Britain, Stater, gold, 1st century AD, stylized horse

From November 9, 2010 to November 13, 2011, the exhibition was held for the Keltengeld. The coins of the Celts are shown from the Atlantic to the Black Sea .

The Celtic culture extended from the 4th century BC. From Spain to what is now France, Britain, southern Germany, the Alpine region and large parts of the Balkans to the Black Sea. From the 3rd century BC Coins minted between BC and 1st century AD can be traced back to Greek and Roman models, but transform them more and more according to their own sense of style. The coinage of the Celts is characterized by a primitivism that tends towards the ornamental and which nowadays appears modern. Fascinating are the growing abstraction, which sometimes even brings to mind modern art such as works by Jean Dubuffet or AR Penck . There were also innovative Celtic coin artists in southern Germany, where between approx. 150 and 100/50 BC. The famous rainbow bowls with dragon animals, birds and deer heads were minted.

literature

  • Wolfgang Hess u. a .: From the Royal Cabinet to the State Collection. 1807-1982. Exhibition on the history of the State Coin Collection in Munich. State Coin Collection, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-9800744-0-4 .

Web links

Commons : State Coin Collection  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dietrich OA Klose, Europe's Verderben 1914 1918. German and Austrian medals on the First World War . State Coin Collection Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-922840-34-3 .
  2. ↑ Nature - Chance - Art. Nature in the medals by Friedrich Brenner / State Coin Collection Munich . With an essay by Mechthild Müller-Hennig, texts and photos by Friedrich Brenner and a complete catalog raisonné of the medals, coin designs and relief work by the artist. State Coin Collection, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-922840-32-9 .
  3. ↑ Walter Cupperi (ed.): Competition in bronze portrait medals of the German Renaissance.. Published for the exhibition of the same name at the State Mint Collection in Munich, November 22, 2013 - March 15, 2014; in the coin cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna June 2, 2014 - January 25, 2015 and in the coin cabinet of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 2015. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-422-07223-7 .
  4. ↑ HVB Foundation Banknote Collection on May 3, 2015
  5. ↑ Kay Ehling : Konstantin 312. Staatliche Münzsammlung, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-922840-28-2 .
  6. ^ Josef Hackl, Dietrich OA Klose: Kauko Räsänen. New ways in medal art. State Coin Collection, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-922840-27-5 .
  7. ^ Bernward Ziegaus: Celtic money. Coins of the Celts and neighboring non-Greek peoples; Christian Flesche Collection. State Coin Collection, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-922840-25-1 .

Coordinates: 48 ° 8 ′ 28 "  N , 11 ° 34 ′ 41"  E