City Museum Düren

City Museum Düren

Exterior view of the museum (2012)
Data
place	Düren , North Rhine-Westphalia
Art	city ​​Museum
architect	unknown
opening	2009
Number of visitors (annually)	5449
Website	www.stadtmuseumdueren.de

The Düren City Museum is a voluntarily run museum in Düren , North Rhine-Westphalia , founded in 2009 , that uses selected exhibits to present the history of the city of Düren in its rooms.

After the reopening of an exhibition from around the 1920s, exhibitions on the occupation period from 1918 to 1929 are currently being shown in the rooms of the city museum, with the focus on the history of the city of Düren. The offer is supplemented by a permanent facility that deals with the air raids on the city of Düren on November 16, 1944. The exhibition "New Horizons. Düren Migrant Women Telling" is new. It deals with personal experiences and views on the homeland and Düren of 22 women with a migration history from 10 countries on four continents. Since spring 2020, the exhibition rooms can also be viewed in a virtual tour.

history

In September 2008, the Düren history workshop set up a temporary exhibition about the 1950s in the former Thiemonds bed house in Düren. The strong response from the population of Düren encouraged an initiative to set up a city ​​history museum in addition to the already existing Düren museums .

For this purpose, Sparkasse Düren provided premises in Arnoldsweilerstraße in downtown Düren, which previously served as the first and so far only car counter of Düren's banking institutions. The first exhibition was opened in 2009, showing the period from 747 to 1814. Little by little, the mostly voluntary employees work on further sections of Düren's city history, so that the exhibitions change at irregular intervals.

It is planned to move the city museum (after renovation) into the former school building , Schenkelstrasse 6–8 , today a branch of the Düren town hall, in 2020 .

Current exhibitions

The museum shows exhibitions at the following time periods:

New Horizons. Tell migrants from Düren

The current exhibition "New Horizons. Düren Migrant Women Tell"

The Düren City Museum is breaking new ground with the project "New Horizons. Tell Düren Migrants". For the first time a topic with current relevance is presented. 22 migrant women from numerous countries told their stories. Young women from Düren conducted several interviews with them and learned more about their personal history. This personal is the central element of the exhibition.

The exhibition is thematically structured and deals with the result of the project. The perspectives on topics such as “everyday life in Düren”, “tradition”, “escape” but also “hopes” or “culture shocks” are represented by personal stories, short quotations, photos and personal items.

Cheated hopes. Düren between new beginnings and the global economic crisis 1919–1929

On April 23, 2017, the exhibition "Düren's Golden Years" was replaced by the exhibition "Cheated Hopes. Düren Between Awakening and World Economic Crisis 1919-1929". It follows the Weimar period and shows life in Düren after the First World War. Technical developments, a new fashion, but also misery, economic worries and political events are shown and offer an insight into the "Golden Twenties" of Düren.

November 16, 1944

In less than half an hour, Royal Air Force bombs laid the city of Düren to rubble and ashes on the afternoon of November 16, 1944 . More than 90% of the inner city was destroyed, 3126 people died according to official figures. A small exhibition room is designed as a permanent memorial space for this important day in recent Düren history. Carefully selected exhibits and pictures are intended to illustrate the extent of the destruction.

Past exhibitions

747 to 1814. From the beginning to the end of the French period

In a small exhibition, the time of the Frankish settlement and the Palatinate, the city development and fortification, Düren as a place of pilgrimage after the stay of the Annahaupt in Düren, the destruction of Düren in 1543 by Emperor Charles V , Wenzel Hollar in Düren and the French rule in 1794 shown until 1814.

Insight into the exhibition Deceived Hopes in the Düren City Museum.

Düren's golden years 1871 to 1914

The period between 1871 and 1914 is of particular importance for the city of Düren. In the “city of millionaires” there was a boom, the population more than doubled and the city was also changing rapidly. At the same time, the wealthy industrialists in the "City of Millionaires" were characterized by their civic engagement - this is how cultural institutions such as the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum or the city theater came into being. But social institutions were also created, such as schools, homes and institutions for caring for the blind. For many parts of the population, however, the time also meant impoverishment, housing misery, supply problems and illness. The exhibition was on view in the city museum until April 2, 2017. Selected exhibits such as the city model from 1634 should continue to be available to visitors to the museum in a modified form.

Home Front - Düren and the First World War

In April 2014 the exhibition “Düren's Golden Years”, which covered the years 1871 to 1914, was expanded to include an exhibition on the First World War and its effects on the city of Düren. The war also meant a deep turning point for Düren. Where there was initially enthusiasm, disillusionment, bitterness and war fatigue soon spread. Due to its proximity to the western front, military hospitals and convalescent homes were set up in Düren. For the population on the “home front”, the time was also marked by increasing food shortages and the loss of numerous relatives. The exhibition "Home Front - Düren and the First World War" shows, using exemplary areas of life, how the reality of the war affected the lives of the people of Düren.

Events

Different regular event formats complement the offer of the permanent exhibition:

Church of St. Anna, Düren 1634, city model after Wenceslaus Hollar

• weekly "open meeting" for members and interested visitors
• Guided tours through the exhibition every last Sunday of the month or on request
• Tours and themed tours in Düren
• Monthly genealogical advice by researchers from the West German Society for Family Studies Cologne (WGfF) and genealogical meeting
• The writing workshop helps young and old to read old documents or letters. It was initiated as part of the Düren district's EFI project.
• Lectures accompanying the exhibition are intended to deepen individual areas of the city's history
• The discussion series "Düren on the couch" offers an especially entertaining forum for all citizens of Düren who have something to tell from their lives
• Weekly Tuesday meeting for all interested citizens in the rooms of the city museum
• School AG "City Museum" in cooperation with the Rurtalgymnasium
• Geocaching tours around the city
• Special events for International Museum Day
• Participation in the "Kulturrucksack NRW"

literature

• Sponsoring association Stadtmuseum Düren e. V. (Ed.): Düren's Golden Years 1871–1914. Book accompanying the III. Department of the permanent exhibition on city history . Hahne & Schloemer, Düren 2014, ISBN 978-3-942513-22-7 .
• Sponsoring association Stadtmuseum Düren e. V. (Ed.): What remains of Prussia in Düren? Book accompanying the exhibition of the same name in the City Museum September 2015 to May 2016. With contributions by Dr. Karl-Wilhelm Nellessen and Christel Kreutzer . Hahne & Schloemer, Düren 2016, ISBN 978-3-942513-35-7 .

Web links

• Homepage of the city museum

• virtual tour
• The museum in SuperSonntag on March 17th, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Annual main report 2018-2019. Retrieved June 11, 2019 . 
2. ^ Düren history workshop . Retrieved May 10, 2017 . 
3. ↑ aid-24542005
4. ↑ Dürenern looked into the photo album. Retrieved May 10, 2017 . 

Coordinates: 50 ° 48 ′ 33 ″  N , 6 ° 29 ′ 8.1 ″  E