GRASSI MUSEUM in Leipzig

I visited GRASSI MUSEUM in Leipzig. The Grassy Museum is a large museum complex, the building of which was built in 1925-1929 and houses the Ethnographic Museum (Museim für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig), the Museum of Applied Art (Museum für Angewandte Kunst), and the Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig (Museum für Musikinstrumente der Uni Leipzig).

Why Grassi? The museum was named after a merchant of Italian origin. At one time he bequeathed 2 million marks to the city. And it was with this money that several significant architectural objects were built in the city, including the Grassi Museum.

The history of the museum is also quite interesting; at first, the collections themselves were located in the building of the present Leipzig city library on Wilhelm Leuschner Square. But over time, the collection became more and on the initiative of Rahald Graul, who was the main initiator of the construction of a new building, construction began. But the Museum suffered during the Second World War, most of the collections were lost. But already in 2001 the Museum was included in the so-called Blue Book, which outlines the most important cultural institutions of eastern Germany.

Museum collections

As I said earlier, the museum presents various collections. The largest of them is in the museum of applied archeology, which was founded in 1874. Today, the collection contains more than 90 thousand objects. The layout of the museum is built in such a way that you begin your journey with Antiquity, and end with the era of Historicism. A kind of time travel.

Presents the collection of the Renaissance, which coincides with the era of great scientific and geographical discoveries. In the spiritual center of this era stood the desire for knowledge of the world, but above all to the self-knowledge of man. In this era, there was also an economic upturn, which significantly affects the products. Outside glass, bronze products, jewelry - all this symbolizes wealth, power and enlightenment.

Also presented are the treasures of the Leipzig city assembly during the Renaissance. The beginning of the development of a collection of silver products was laid in the era of Renaissance.

There are also many exhibits of Borokko, Rococo (including the Chinoiserie collection), Classicism and, of course, historicism.

Leipzig Ethnographic Museum.

The museum was founded in 1869, and since 2004 it has been part of the State Ethnographic Assembly of Saxony.

At the moment, the WERKSTATT PROLOG, which emerged from the experimental evolution of Prolog # 1–10, Erzählungen von Menschen, Dingen und Orten, which developed from December 2016 to April 2018, is in operation.

After dismantling in April 2018, several parts of the Grassi Museum were adapted for the PROLOGUE.

Within the framework of the exhibition, seminars on personality, racism, alienation, biography of objects, history of the collection, reference to human remains, the relationship between north and south, global inequality and restitution are held.

For more information on the concept of the Prologue, please visit http://prolog-ausstellung.info/about-1/