City Museum Kassel

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City Museum Kassel
City Museum Kassel - Kulturhaus, Ständeplatz 16 in Kassel.jpg
City Museum Kassel, view of the main building and the entrance, in the background on the right the newly built tower
Data
place Ständeplatz 16, Kassel, Germany Coordinates: 51 ° 18 ′ 53.3 ″  N , 9 ° 29 ′ 23.5 ″  EWorld icon
Art
architect Albert Scholtz (Kulturhaus), Hufnagel / Pütz / Rafaelian (tower building)
opening Beginning of 1979 (foundation and provisional seat in the Kulturhaus), October 21, 1983 (first exhibition rooms opened), December 1986 (current location finally determined), June 18, 2016 (reopening after major renovation and building of the tower)
operator
City of Kassel
management
Kai Füldner
Website
ISIL DE-MUS-155719
The entrance portal, September 2015

The City Museum Kassel deals with the history of the north Hessian city ​​of Kassel . After renovation work and a redesign of the permanent exhibition since 2010, it was reopened on June 18, 2016.

history

Predecessor institutions

The population's desire for a museum for the history of Kassel had existed since the 19th century. Therefore, since then there have been repeated efforts to match that with individual collections. These, however, were not combined in one museum, but were spread over a number of exhibitions in the city area. There was a Kassel collection in the new town hall , an exhibition in the Kunstgewerbemuseum on Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz (later Scheidemannplatz ) and others in the Murhard Library , the Marstall and in the Bose Museum on Luisenstraße. These collections were dissolved over time and partially incorporated into the Hessian State Museum.

founding

In the mid-1970s, the population again came up with the idea of ​​setting up a city museum. The reason for this were reports that the magazines of the Hessian State Museum had meanwhile been so full of exhibits that only a fraction of them could even be shown in the exhibitions of the State Museum. The establishment of a city museum was officially decided two years later when the city council agreed on it at their meeting on July 3, 1978. In the same year the population was called upon to donate exhibits and money to the museum, which had not yet been founded. The donated exhibits should be issued provisionally at the Municipal Archives in the Royal Stables because it lacked at that time in other ways to the future exhibits appropriate deposit . The position of the future museum director was also included in the city budget. The chairman of the Kassel Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Karl-Hermann Wegner, who took up the position at the beginning of February 1979 and remained in this position until his retirement in 2006, was favored.

The search for a suitable location was decisive for the successful establishment of a city museum. At the end of 1978 / beginning of 1979 the focus fell on the listed Karlshospital , which was almost completely destroyed by bombs in World War II. The building had been empty since the war, so there was enough space to create a museum from scratch here. A sum of 4.5 million D-Marks was estimated for the planned construction work, one third of which was to be paid for from the investment fund of the State of Hesse, as well as cash donations from the population. Up until documenta 7 in 1982, when it was to serve as an exhibition space, the Karlshospital was to be repaired to such an extent that the city museum could have moved in in 1984 or 1985. For the duration of the construction work, the provisional administration of the museum was set up in 1979 in the culture house at Ständeplatz 16, which was built between 1869 and 1871. In June 1980 the city's magistrate officially approved the reconstruction of the Karlshospital. The plan was to install a heat pump that would generate the energy to heat the building from the water of the Fulda flowing past. In the meantime it had also been decided that in addition to the city museum, the city archive should also move into the Karlshospital. Nevertheless, the plans for the facility dragged on and there were repeated discussions in the city administration as to whether the Karlshospital was really the right location. Among other things, designs were presented according to which the city museum in the Old Brethren Church or the Garrison Church could be set up.

opening

Since the planned construction work on the Karlshospital had not started in 1982 due to a lack of funding and the provisional rooms of the City Museum on Ständeplatz no longer offered sufficient space for the countless exhibits, the city parliament discussed whether it was not possible to move the museum into the already to make more space available to related locations. It was decided that the "American Library" housed in the same building at Ständeplatz would have to move to another location. It was finally incorporated into the city library in the town hall. On October 21, 1983, the first three exhibition rooms of the city museum in the Kulturhaus on Ständeplatz were opened. Nevertheless, the planned establishment of the museum in the Karlshospital had not yet been given up. In the meantime, however, the probable costs had risen to 9 million Deutschmarks, which in turn were not available. In 1985 and 1986 there were again discussions about the final location of the city museum. In addition to the possible buildings Karlshospital, Garrison Church and Renthof , the Marstall was also proposed. A solution was to be found by the end of 1986, which then had to be affordable. Because both the Karlshospital and the garrison church were ruins and therefore had to be completely renovated before the museum moved in. For the garrison church, costs of around 12.5 million D-Marks were estimated in January 1986 (excluding the additional costs for the private property). The provisional location at Ständeplatz was rejected at this point because it was assumed that it was not able to expand and that the usable area was too small.

Final location

In December 1986 it was finally decided that the city museum should remain in its provisional location at Ständeplatz. However, the museum did not yet have sufficient space. It was therefore decided that the documenta archive, which would occupy an entire floor, should move out. This caused some resentment at the Association of Friends of the City Museum, which was founded at the beginning of 1986, as the association had campaigned for the Garrison Church as a location. This ultimately failed due to the financing. At the beginning of 1993, the Kasseler Kunstverein, which was still in the Kulturhaus, moved into the Fridericianum, making the premises previously occupied by the association available to the city museum. On October 6, the museum's permanent exhibition was expanded to include a permanent section on the history of Kassel from 1900–1950, after the 20th century could only be dealt with in special exhibitions due to a lack of space. On May 5, 2001, the city museum was connected to the local transport network of the Kasseler Verkehrs-Gesellschaft with its own stop .

First renovation

From September 2001 to May 2002 the city museum was closed for extensive renovation and reconstruction work. During the installation of an elevator, the remains of a historic brick vault were discovered in the cellar. The measures were taken as an opportunity to discuss an extension behind the museum building. From 2005 the plans for an expansion of the museum became more concrete. Either an addition to the building or an extension on one of the neighboring properties was considered. To this end, one million euros should be made available by the city by 2008. In July 2006, the director Karl-Hermann Wegner, who had been in office since the city museum was founded, retired. Cornelia Dörr took over his position on January 1, 2007. In 2008, as part of a municipal master plan for the further development of the cultural facilities, considerations were again drawn up on how the city museum could be expanded. The building was to have a third floor, the triangular inner courtyard was to be built over and the wing leading away from the Ständeplatz was to be extended. 9.2 million euros were budgeted for these measures. The extensions should be completed by 2012. After an architectural competition, the final design for the museum extension was presented in October 2009. At the end of the wing leading away from the Ständeplatz, a tower was to be built, which would increase the usable area for exhibitions from 650 to 1100 square meters. The Berlin architects Hufnagel / Pütz / Rafaelian were responsible for this . The construction work should be completed by the city's 1100th anniversary in early 2013, with a budget of 7.5 million euros.

Second renovation and extension

After it was decided to expand the museum, the museum was closed and emptied by the end of March 2010. Most of the exhibits were placed in the museum magazines; on the other hand, a small part, including the photo archive and library, was transferred to the so-called Schaustelle in the neighboring Wilhelmsstraße and was still accessible to the public there. The exhibition site also served as a location for events and special exhibitions. The planned reopening of the museum in February 2013 was postponed because difficulties arose again and again during the construction work. Above all, moisture and the unstable subsurface required extensive renovation and security measures. The opening was therefore postponed to September 2013 at the end of 2011. At the beginning of 2012, a further 900,000 euros were made available for the construction work. In addition, a planning office from Leipzig was commissioned to design the new permanent exhibition.

At the end of March 2012, the foundation stone for the extension was laid and the former museum director Wegener and his successor Cornelia Dörr built a time capsule into the wall of the museum building. Due to difficulties during the construction work, the reopening of the museum, which was planned for September 2013, was delayed again. This was due to unforeseeable deficiencies in the building fabric that was created shortly after the Second World War, as well as the cramped conditions during the construction work that had to take place while the surrounding buildings and a parking garage were in operation. In November 2012 it became known that asbestos and dioxin pollution had been detected during the construction work , which required additional remedial measures. This increased the costs by a further 1.6 million euros. In July 2013, the city separated from the Hufnagel architects' office because they reported the damage to the building fabric, the pollution and the associated increase in the cost of construction work to the city too late. The work was subsequently taken over by the Kassel architects Sprengwerk. The costs also increased again.

reopening

The tower extension built from 2010 to 2014

The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on December 6, 2013. As a result of the extension and the further renovation measures, the usable area has increased to 1920 square meters. However, the costs also rose to 11.9 million euros. In order to be able to settle this sum, expensive building materials and conversions were partly dispensed with. From August 2014 to March 2015, the museum's exhibition moved back to the Kulturhaus on Ständeplatz. At the end of 2014 all external work and the construction of the tower were completed. Since then, the inside of the museum has been prepared for the permanent exhibition to move in again. In mid-2015, the Natural History Museum in the Ottoneum and the City Museum were combined in the joint “City Museums” department. The head of the department was taken over by the previous director of the Natural History Museum, Kai Füldner. In August 2015, the Hessian Science and Art Minister Boris Rhein granted additional financial support of 700,000 euros, with the help of which the museum was reopened on June 18, 2016. Before that, an exhibition on unpublished documenta projects was shown in the new tower building from the end of October 2015 to mid-February 2016 under the title "Utopie documenta". For the period shortly before until shortly after the opening of the new permanent exhibition (April to September 2016), the city museum showed a special exhibition with photos from the estate of the Eberth family of photographers.

The permanent exhibition is located on the upper three floors of the wing leading away from the Ständeplatz, while the museum education and an event hall have been set up in the basement below. The wing leading along the Ständeplatz houses the administration and reference library as well as a museum shop and cash desk area on the ground floor.

Culture house

The city museum has been located in the Kulturhaus (also known as the Kunsthaus) on Ständeplatz in Kassel-Mitte since it was founded in 1979 . The building was built according to a design by Albert Scholtz in the years 1869–1871 and later rebuilt several times. The opening by the Kunsthausgesellschaft took place on December 27, 1871 in the presence of 130 guests of honor. In the following years it turned out that the rental income that was supposed to arise from the use of the building by local associations was not enough to pay dividends to the shareholders of the Kunsthausgesellschaft. Therefore, in 1876, following a shareholders' resolution, the city was proposed to buy the building. In 1877 it was agreed that the building should become the property of the city in exchange for the debt of the Kunsthausgesellschaft. In order to increase the usable area, the city had another floor added and set up a school in the building. However, the art association was still allowed to use some rooms for exhibitions.

In 1907 the building was rebuilt. It received electric lighting, which ensured that the exhibitions were also accessible in the evening when it was dark. In May 1935, the building was given as a gift by the city on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Kunstverein. The Kunsthaus was thus fully available for exhibitions again. In November 1939, the Kunsthaus was occupied by the Food and Economics Office, so that it could no longer be used for exhibitions. During the Second World War, the Kunsthaus was completely destroyed except for the outer facade. The building was restored in the years 1953–1955, including a 1950s-style staircase that is still preserved today. From 2010 to 2016 the building was completely refurbished and rebuilt (see section Second refurbishment and extension ).

Exhibitions

Permanent exhibition

In the so-called KasselFoyer on the ground floor next to the reception counter and museum shop, exhibits are shown before entering the actual exhibition. This memory store contains exhibits that bring the history of Kassel closer to the visitor by means of various sound recordings.

The new permanent exhibition is divided into three sections. The first on the ground floor with the title "The Residenzstadt Kassel" - from the beginnings to the 18th century covers the period from the first documented mention in the early Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century. The second section “The rise of the bourgeoisie” - 19th century on the first floor deals with the 19th century and closes with the development of a large city in 1899/1900. To illustrate the history of this century, a wall newspaper with embedded paintings was installed along the entire length of the department . The third area "War and Peace" - 20th century in the attic deals with the First World War , the time of National Socialism, reconstruction and German reunification .

Special exhibitions

The new tower extension serves as a special exhibition area. For this purpose, three rooms have been set up, two of which adjoin the permanent exhibition rooms on the first and second floors. The third room is higher than the part of the building with the permanent exhibition and below the new KasselBlick event room, from whose balcony a sweeping view of the city is possible.

Publications

From 1992 to 2002 the writings of the Stadtmuseum Kassel were published by the Marburger Jonas Verlag. Individual titles on the history of the city of Kassel were published independently of this. The Blickpunkt Stadtmuseum of the Friends of the City Museum has been published twice a year since 2004 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ellen Schwaab: The new Kassel City Museum is well received , hna.de from June 18, 2016, accessed on August 24, 2017.
  2. ^ Place for a city museum, in: HNA from January 31, 1976.
  3. ^ All groups agree: Stadtmuseum für Kassel, in: HNA of July 11, 1978.
  4. ↑ Great interest in the city museum, in: HNA from December 16, 1978.
  5. ↑ Stadtmuseum im Karlshospital, in: HNA from January 17, 1979.
  6. ^ Karlshospital: Reconstruction for documenta from '80, in: HNA of September 16, 1979.
  7. ↑ City Museum Kassel . In: Hessischer Museumsverband (Hrsg.): Museums in Hessen . 2nd Edition. Kassel 1979, p. 305 f .
  8. ↑ Local news, in: Kasseler Woche, June 13, 1980.
  9. ↑ Garrison Church as City Museum ?, in: HNA of April 3, 1981.
  10. ↑ Stadtmuseums-Domizil or Lapidarium ?, in: HNA of July 27, 1981.
  11. ^ Complaint for the district president after the FDP application in the city parliament, in: HNA of March 24, 1982.
  12. ↑ City museum opened in the Kulturhaus, in: HNA of October 21, 1983.
  13. ↑ Stadtmuseum in die Markthalle ?, in: HNA from January 29, 1986.
  14. ↑ City Museum remains in the Kulturhaus, in: HNA from December 20, 1986.
  15. ^ Kunstverein wants to move to the Fridericianum, in: HNA from January 15, 1993.
  16. ↑ Alexander Link: Extension of the permanent exhibition in the City Museum Kassel, in: Heimatbrief Niederzwehren 1997/1.
  17. ↑ Beate Eder: By elevator into the city history, in: HNA from May 25, 2002.
  18. ↑ Ellen Schwab: Another attempt for expansion, in: HNA from February 10, 2005.
  19. ↑ Dirk Schwarze: Farewell to a Lifetime Achievement, in: HNA from July 5, 2006.
  20. ↑ Tobias Zihn: Guardian of Treasures, in: HNA from January 25, 2007.
  21. ↑ Claudia Hohmann: Only a few individual parts. Further increase, in: HNA of March 22, 2008.
  22. ↑ a b Ulrike Pflüger-Scherb: When historians wall, in: HNA of March 30, 2012.
  23. ↑ Ellen Schwab: A tower for the city museum, in: HNA from October 30, 2009.
  24. ↑ Ulrike Pflüger-Scherb: A memory moves, in: HNA from February 1, 2010.
  25. ↑ Martina Heise-Thonicke, Ellen Schwaab: A building with obstacles, in: HNA of November 9, 2011.
  26. ↑ Ellen Schwaab: It should start in March, in: HNA from February 25, 2012.
  27. ↑ Christina Hein: The opening 2013 is off, in: HNA from October 30, 2012.
  28. ↑ Rainer Hahne: 1.6 million euros more, in: ExtraTip from December 2, 2012.
  29. ↑ Christina Hein: Renovation again more expensive, in: HNA from July 4, 2013.
  30. ↑ Ulrike Pflüger-Scherb: The window to the city, in HNA from December 7, 2013.
  31. ^ Relocation to the City Museum, in: ExtraTip from August 10, 2014.
  32. ↑ Jörg Steinbach: Moving to the house at Ständeplatz: Back to the City Museum , in: HNA Online from February 19, 2015, accessed on August 24, 2017.
  33. ↑ Martina Heise-Thonicke: The new tower can be seen, in: HNA from December 11, 2014.
  34. ^ Reorganization of the urban museum landscape , press release of the city of Kassel on stadt-kassel.de, February 26, 2015, accessed on August 24, 2017.
  35. ↑ Christina Hein: Push for City Museum, in: HNA of August 21, 2015.
  36. ↑ Thomas Siemon: Every picture tells the history of the city: Photos from the estate of the Eberth family of photographers , HNA.de, April 15, 2016, accessed on August 24, 2017.
  37. ^ Manfred Marx, Heiner Georgsdorf: 150 Years of the Kassel Art Association. A chronicle . Ed .: Kasseler Kunstverein. Kassel 1985, p. 45 .
  38. ^ Manfred Marx, Heiner Georgsdorf: 150 Years of the Kassel Art Association. A chronicle . Ed .: Kasseler Kunstverein. Kassel 1985, p. 69 .
  39. ^ Manfred Marx, Heiner Georgsdorf: 150 Years of the Kassel Art Association. A chronicle . Ed .: Kasseler Kunstverein. Kassel 1985, p. 89 f .
  40. ^ Manfred Marx, Heiner Georgsdorf: 150 Years of the Kassel Art Association. A chronicle . Ed .: Kasseler Kunstverein. Kassel 1985, p. 95 .
  41. ↑ State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Hesse (ed.): Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Architectural monuments in Hessen. Kassel I . Vieweg Verlag, Braunschweig 1983, ISBN 3-528-06232-0 .