Armory (Mannheim)
The Mannheim armory today houses part of the Reiss-Engelhorn museums . After extensive renovation and redesign, the museum was reopened on January 24, 2007. It is located on square C5 in Mannheim city center .
history
Commissioned by Elector Karl Theodor in 1777 as an armory for the Palatinate army and built from 1777–1779 according to plans by the architect and sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt , the building was later also used as a barracks and industrial hall. It is the last monumental building from the Electoral era in Mannheim and is also considered an important testimony to secular architecture between late baroque and early classicism.
In the 19th century the armory served as a barracks , in 1901 the building became the property of the city of Mannheim and from 1903 it housed a commercial hall and the Mannheim lending office . The building was already used as a museum in 1908, and from 1925 the Museum of Natural History, Ethnology and Prehistory was housed on the ground floor .
During the Second World War, the building suffered considerable damage, which was gradually repaired from 1946 onwards, initially with an emergency roof. Since 1949 the first floor was available again as a museum. From 1952 the city history collection was placed in the courtyard building of the armory. In 1953, the Mannheim city council decided to set up a new museum in the armory, the Reiss Museum , with funds from the donation of the Carl (1843–1914) and Anna Reiss (1836–1915) siblings . After extensive renovation and construction work, the Reiss Museum was inaugurated on January 21, 1957.
After the completion of a new building for the archaeological, natural and ethnographic collections on the neighboring square D5 in 1988, the armory housed a theater and music history collection as well as other art history collections, but also an exhibition on Mannheim's city history.
In March 2002 the Mannheim city council decided to renovate and modernize the armory, which was threatened with decay. Due to significant structural defects and unacceptable climatic fluctuations, the general renovation and refurbishment of the Museum Zeughaus began in April 2003 and was completed on January 24, 2007 on time for the city's 400th anniversary. The renovation and redesign of the collections cost 17.32 million euros. State-of-the-art museum technology and media installations in connection with new exhibition concepts were implemented on an exhibition area of 6000 square meters.
Exhibitions
The world of antiquity is presented to the visitor in the basement. The exhibits represent in particular the Hellenistic, Etruscan and Roman epochs. On the ground floor, the entrance area, there is the treasury with sacred works of art and the porcelain collection with a large number of pieces from the Frankenthal porcelain factory.
The Heinrich Vetter Hall on the first floor is used for special exhibitions. The collection of paintings, graphics, clocks, clothing and furniture is on the second floor. There is also an exhibition on the subject of collecting frenzy .
The history of the city of Mannheim and the natural space of the city area, as well as the extensive history of theater, are dealt with on the third floor. The theater show collection shows, among other things, the original prompting book for The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller from 1782. The fourth floor houses the musical instrument collection and the International Photography Forum .
Special exhibitions (selection)
- Mummies - The Dream of Eternal Life (September 30, 2007 - March 24, 2008)
- The Hohenstaufen and Italy - Three regions of innovation in medieval Europe (September 19, 2010 - February 20, 2011)
- Collect! The Emperor's Art Chamber in Vienna (February 26, 2012 - September 2, 2012)
- The Wittelsbacher am Rhein - The Electoral Palatinate and Europe (September 8, 2013 - March 2, 2014)
- Baroque - just a beautiful appearance? (September 11, 2016 - February 19, 2017)
- The Popes and the Unity of the Latin World (May 21, 2017 - November 26, 2017)
- Reformation! The Southwest and Europe (October 29, 2017 - April 2, 2018)
- Mummies - Secrets of Life (September 16, 2018 - March 31, 2019)
- Java Gold - Splendor and Beauty of Indonesia (September 15, 2019 - April 13, 2020)
→ See also: Special exhibitions at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums
literature
(in chronological order)
- Christoph Hahn, Siegmar Hohl (ed.): The great museum guide. Collections on art, culture, nature and technology in Germany. Bassermann Verlag, Gütersloh / Munich 2000, ISBN 978-3-8094-5013-9 , pp. 319-320.
- State Office for Museum Care Baden-Württemberg , Museum Association Baden-Württemberg eV (Hrsg.): Museums in Baden-Württemberg. 7th, completely revised edition. Theiss, Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-8062-2629-4 , p. 281.
- Klemens Mörmann (ed.): The German museum guide in color. Museums and collections in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. Book Guild Gutenberg, Frankfurt am Main / Olten / Vienna 1983, DNB 870131540 , pp. 637–638.
- Peter Stepan (ed.): The German museums. Westermann's colored guide through all important museums and collections. Westermann Sachbuch, Braunschweig 1983, ISBN 3-14-508854-8 , pp. 294-295.
- Claudia Braun: The shine of antiquity - advanced cultures of the Mediterranean in the Reiss-Engelhorn museums. Schnell + Steiner, Regensburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-7954-3360-4 .
→ See also: Publications of the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums
Web links
- Official website of the Zeughaus Museum
- Armory Museum . In: Mannheim.de
- Armory Museum . In: Kunst-und-Kultur.de
- Uwe A. Oster: Museum Zeughaus Mannheim - From weapons store to museum . In: Damals.de , June 22, 2007
Coordinates: 49 ° 29 ′ 16.38 " N , 8 ° 27 ′ 40.56" E