Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum (German Museum) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of technology and science[1], with approximately 1.3 million visitors per year[2] and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology.
The museum was founded on June 28, 1903 at a meeting of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) initiated by Oskar von Miller. The full name of the museum in English is The German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology (German: Deutsches Museum von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik). Miller's vision, passion, and persistent efforts won the support of famous scientists including Max Planck and Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, entrepreneurs, and Emperor Wilhelm II. The Museum has survived World War II and is now one of the most popular sites in Germany today. The Museum has its own research institute which conducts research in collaboration with universities in Munich.
History
Origin
Oskar von Miller (7 May 1855 – 9 April 1934), a German engineer, is an instrumental figure who is considered the founder of Deutsches Museum.
A few months prior to the summer 1903 meeting of the Society of German Engineers[3], Oskar von Miller gathered a small group who supported his desire to found a science and technology museum. In a display of support, this group spontaneously donated 260,000 marks (186,637 US dollars) to the cause and elected a "Provisional Committee" to get the ball rolling.
In June 1903 Prince Ludwig agreed to act as patron of the museum and the city of Munich donated Coal Island as a site for the project. In addition, exhibits began to arrive from Munich, Germany, and abroad including collections from the Bavarian Academy. Famous scientists and entrepreneurs such as Max Planck, Hugo Junkers, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen and Emil Rathenau advised him on the structure of the departments. Nearly all the material needed for the construction of the building was donated, owing to his commitment. With Carl von Linde, he educated the first museum executive committee to the developer of the refrigeration technology and Walter von Dyck, the rector of the technical university. As no dedicated museum building existed the exhibits were displayed in the National Museum.
German Museum for Masterpieces of Natural Science and Technology
On November 12, 1906 a ceremony was held to open the temporary exhibits at the National Museum; on November 13 the foundation stone was laid for the permanent museum.
The first name of the museum, the "German Museum for Masterpieces of Natural Science and Technology," was not meant to limit the museum to German advances in science and technology, but to express the importance of science and technology to the German people.
Oskar von Miller opened the new museum on his seventieth birthday, May 2, 1925 after a delay of almost ten years. From the beginning the museum displays were backed up by documents available in a public library and archives which are open seven days a week to ensure access to the working public.
Prior to and during World War II the museum was put on a shoestring budget by the Nazi party and many exhibits were allowed to get out of date with a few exceptions such as the new automobile room dedicated May 7, 1937. By the end of 1944 the museum was badly damaged by air bombings with eighty percent of the buildings and twenty percent of the exhibits damaged or destroyed. As Allied troops marched into Munich in April 1945 museum director Karl Bässler barely managed to keep the last standing bridge to Museum Island from being blown up by retreating Nazis.
After the World War II
Following the war the museum had to be closed for repairs and a number of temporary tenants, such as the College of Technology and the Post Office used museum space as their own buildings were being reconstructed. In November 1945 the library was able to reopen, followed by the congress hall in January 1946. A special exhibit on fifty years of the Diesel engine was able to open in October 1947 and the regular exhibits began reopening in May 1948. Not until 1965, more than 20 years after the end of the war in Germany, did the exhibit area match (and then exceed) pre-war size.
During the 1950s the museum focused on natural sciences rather than technology and many of the traditional large exhibits, such as civil engineering, were reduced in size to make way for more modern technological advances.
In August 1969 the Apollo 8 space capsule was shown in a special exhibit entitled "Man and Space" and in 1970 the first full-time director, Theo Stillger, was appointed. In the 1970s the mission statement of the museum was modified to encourage the explanation the cultural significance of science and technology in exhibits.
The early 1980s saw severe damage to several exhibits due to arson in the smallest exhibit space of 34,140 square meters (354,480 square feet). This was followed by an extensive reconstruction effort and additional building bringing the total exhibit space to 55,000 square meters by 1993. The 1980s and 1990s also brought agreements with the Science Center in Bonn and the government resulting in the creation of Deutsches Museum Bonn and the Flugwerft Schleißheim airfield exhibit.
In 1996 the Bavarian Government gave buildings at the historic Theresienhöhe site in Munich to the Deutsches Museum resulting in the creation of the new transportation museum, the Deutsches Museum Verkehrszentrum, which opened in 2003 and now houses the automobile and train exhibits which were removed from the original Deutsches Museum site. The Theresienhöhe quarter is a new area on the edge of the inner city of Munich, and the Museum of Transport is a part of the quarter's design of mixed use.
Main museum and two branch museums
The main site is Museumsinsel, and the museum has two branches in and near Munich and one in Bonn.
Main museum: the Island Museum
The main site of the Deutsches Museum is a small island in the Isar river, which had been used for rafting wood since the Middle Ages. The island did not have any buildings prior to 1772 because it was regularly flooded prior to the building of the Sylvensteinspeicher.
In 1772 the Isar barracks were built on the island and after the flooding of 1899 the building was rebuilt with flood protection. In 1903 the city council announced that they would give the island for free for the newly built Deutsches Museum. The island formerly known as Kohleinsel (coal island) was then renamed Museumsinsel (museum island).
The Flugwerft Schleißheim
The Flugwerft Schleißheim branch is located some 50 kilometers north of Munich's city center close to Schleißheim Palace. It is based on the premises of one of the first military airbases in Germany founded just before World War I. It comprises the old air control and command center building as well as modern buildings added in the late 2000s after strong endorsement from Franz-Josef Strauss, the then prime minister of the local state of Bavaria, who was a passionate flyer.
The "Flugwerft Schleißheim" displays various interesting airplanes for which not enough room was available at the "Museumsinsel" site in downtown Munich. Among the more prominent exhibits is a Horten wings-only glider built in the 1940s, restored from the few surviving parts. A collection of the German constructions of VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) planes developed in the 1950s and 1960s is quite unique. A range of Vietnam era fighter planes as well as Russian planes taken over from East Germany after the reunification are shown. This outstation also features a workshop dedicated to the restoration of all kind of airplanes for the purpose of static display.
The latest branch of the Deutsches Museum, located at Theresienhöhe in Munich, opened in 2003 and is called the Deutsches Museum Verkehrszentrum and is focused on transportation technology.
The branch located in Bonn was opened in 1995 and focuses on German technology, science and research after 1945.
Deutsches Museum Bonn
The Deutsches Museum Bonn is a museum with exhibits and experiments of famous scientists, engineers and inventors. Its central themes are research and technology in Germany after 1945. It is part of the Deutsches Museum in Munich. It was founded in 1995 at the instigation of the Association of Sponsors for the Promotion of German Science (Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft) in the Science Center (Wissenschaftszentrum) in Bonn.
Current Permanent Exhibits
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Trivia
- Julius Rosenwald and The Commercial Club of Chicago modeled the Museum of Science and Industry on the Deutsches Museum.
See also
Notes
- ↑ The New York Times Travel Guide dated Aug 10, 2008 states that "this is the largest technological museum of its kind in the world." Retrieved December 16, 2008.
- ↑ Research in the Deutsches Museum, Deutsches Museum. Retrieved December 16, 2008.
- ↑ Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) (English: Association of German Engineers) is an organization of 126,000 engineers and natural scientists. Established in 1856, the VDI is today the largest engineering association in Western Europe. The role of the VDI in Germany is comparable to that of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in the United States. The VDI is not a union. The association promotes the advancement of technology and represents the interests of engineers and of engineering businesses in Germany.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Deutsches Museum (Germany), K. Allwang, and F. Heilbronner. Deutsches Museum: Guide Through the Collections. Munich: The Museum, 1988. ISBN 978-3406317613
- Deutsches Museum (Germany). The Deutsches Museum Illustrated. Munich: Lindauer, 1930s.
- Deutsches Museum Munchen. Munchen: Winkler, 1973.
- Deutsches Museum von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik <München, and Graham Lack. Guide to the Museum / Deutsches Museum. München: Dt. Museum, 2005. ISBN 978-3924183417
- Deutsches Museum. Deutsches Museum of Masterpieces of Natural Science and Technology, Munich: Illustrated Guide Through the Collections. Munich: P. Winkler Verlag, 1980.
- Fehlhammer, Wolf Peter, and K. Allwang. Deutsches Museum: Ingenious Inventions and Masterpieces of Science and Technology. Munich: Prestel, 2003. ISBN 978-3791328188
- Fehlhammer, Wolf Peter, and Wilhelm Fuessl. "The Deutsches Museum: Idea, Realization, and Objectives." Technology and Culture 41(93) (V): 517-520.
- Monem, Nadine Käthe. Sleeping and Dreaming. London: Black Dog Pub, 2007. ISBN 1906155054
- Päch-Franke, Susanne, and Herbert W. Franke. Deutsches Museum. Cologne: Dumont, 1986.
External links
All links retrieved January 29, 2024.
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