Eupen City Museum

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Eupen City Museum (December 2018)

The City Museum of Eupen in the Belgian Eupen is a museum of category 1 in the German-speaking community . It is one of the six "recognized" museums in East Belgium and has been located in Haus de Ru’s at Gospertstrasse 52 since 1980 .

After eight years of renovation, which was due to the condition of the 450-year-old town house, the museum was reopened on January 29, 2019 with a subsequent new and modern extension.

history

The first plans to set up a trade museum existed as early as 1892. The first city museum existed from 1922 to 1940 on Eupener Haasstrasse. Plans for a district home museum on the Kaperberg had to be abandoned the following year due to the war. After that, two associations set themselves the goal of re-establishing the museum. From 1969 to 1977 there were plans to set up a museum in the nurses' home on Rotenberg, the city council had made the decision in principle in 1972.

In 1978 the city bought the house at Gospertstrasse 52, which was converted into a museum in the following years. The old town house is a testament to the Eupen cloth manufacture in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was built as a half-timbered house around 1570 and was given a new facade in 1697 by the merchant Nikolaus Pelzer. It is also the birthplace of the poet and industrialist Wilhelm Alfred Imperatori, who was born in 1878 . The dilapidated workshop buildings in the courtyard were demolished by 1980 and the roof was redesigned. The second Eupen City Museum was opened on September 5, 1980. On January 13 of the following year, the VoG Stadtmuseum was founded as an “ association without the intention of making a profit ”.

In 2004 the city bought the house at Gospertstrasse 54 as an extension for the museum. Seven years later, on September 16, 2011, the foundation stone for the third city museum was laid. After that, the old museum was closed and construction work began with the demolition of number 54. The work was delayed by five years due to static problems, the dilapidation of the old house and a necessary construction freeze. The city museum was presented for the first time in autumn 2018.

The opening celebrations began with a ceremony on January 25, 2019, followed by two open days.

Management and sponsorship

The art historian and archaeologist Catherine Weisshaupt took over the management of the museum as managing director on March 1, 2018, previously she was involved in the development of the design concept as a volunteer at the VoG Stadtmuseum . The overall project of the new museum is based on a collaboration between the Royal Eupen History and Museum Association , the VoG , interested citizens and a design company from Bonn.

The sponsor of the museum is the autonomous community council "AGR TILIA" of the city of Eupen.

Concept and structure

Stucco relief Justitia by Petrus Nicolaas Gagini

With the reopening, the museum was upgraded to category 1, so its tasks, which are promoted and subsidized by the German-speaking community, include collecting, storing, researching and conveying regional history.

In addition to the permanent exhibition area, there are areas available for special exhibitions. In the outdoor area there are some large exhibits from industrial textile and wire production. The old and new buildings are visually separated from each other.

In the foyer there are nine showpieces for the individual departments. Some dates indicate milestones in the city's history, for example the right to hold two free annual markets , which Emperor Charles V granted in 1544.

The area of ​​the permanent exhibition is essentially divided into the following parts:

  • City views of Eupen, a collection of paintings and drawings by well-known artists, including the Eupen painters Alfred Holler and Adolf Christmann
  • Eupen living culture in the 18th and 19th centuries - a comparison of everyday life in the houses of the patrician families with the working class families; 19th century kitchen collections
  • Timelines in the history of Eupen town and building
  • Watch cabinet with several dozen valuable clocks from different centuries and countries
  • The history of the cloth industry in Eupen , including industrialization and industrial culture. The rebellion of the shearers on April 10, 1821 against the first mechanical shearing machine is represented symbolically.
  • Development of the school system, faith and church, club world and customs with the Eupen Carnival, border history and the Friedrich Toussaint goldsmith's workshop

The special exhibits include the model of the large Scheiblerhaus in the lower town, which had to give way to a modern school building in 1970, and the cast of the stucco relief Justitia by Petrus Nicolaas Gagini . The museum also houses the original of the male spa fountain , which was made by the Raeren sculptor Hubert Schiffer and originally placed in a grotto in Langesthal next to a spring in 1910. On the occasion of the construction of the Weser dam , it had to be dismantled and secured around 1935. A bronze copy has stood at the confluence of the Weser and Hill rivers since 2012.

In addition, a room is available in the museum for temporary temporary exhibitions, which began as part of the reopening with the Embroidery Worlds collection - Eupen views made of woolen threads and canvas by the Eupen artist Herbert Johnen. In his large-format works, some of which were made with several 100,000 engravings, he depicts well-known Eupen views in bold colors.

  • Fireplace, Delft tiles with biblical motifs

  • Spa fountain man

  • Staircase from 1697

  • Cornil clock, 1740

  • 19th century cooking machine

  • Cloth scissors

  • Shearers uprising 1821

  • Toussaint goldsmith's workshop

  • Carnival costumes

  • Wire drawing machine in the outdoor area

literature

  • Heinz Godesar: Eupen has a museum again. In: Historical Eupen. Volume 15. Markus-Verlag, Eupen 1981, pp. 85-94.
  • Heinz Gensterblum: Between nostalgia and the future. In. Border echo . January 26, 2019, p. 4.

Web links

Commons : Stadtmuseum Eupen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Edgar Hungs: End of construction work: Eupener Stadtmuseum before opening. In: ostbelgiendirekt.be. October 4, 2018, accessed December 29, 2018 .
  2. ^ Chantal Delhez: Eupen: New director for the new city museum. In: brf.be . January 22, 2018, accessed January 29, 2019 .
  3. ↑ The association was awarded the honorary title of royal in 2016 on the occasion of its 50th anniversary .

Coordinates: 50 ° 37 '56 "  N , 6 ° 2' 7.5"  E