Bezirksmuseum

Description

On the village green of Alt‑Marzahn, the Museum Marzahn‑Hellersdorf houses a heritage-listed school building that opened in 1912. The building is located at Alt‑Marzahn 51 and stands directly adjacent to the Dorfkirche Marzahn; a war memorial lies to the east, and the former fire station and the village inn frame the lens-shaped green, which stretches for about 350 metres from west‑northwest to east‑southeast.

The roots of schooling in Marzahn go back to the founding of the village in the 13th century, when lessons were still held in the parsonage. With the introduction of compulsory schooling by the Prussian state at the end of the 18th century, a simple wooden schoolhouse was built on the edge of the churchyard; later, a cottage supplemented the classroom. In the 19th century the need for school space grew, so that ultimately a new stone school building was erected on a cleared site at the green and opened in 1912. The building accommodated 90 pupils; the former wooden house was then removed. Usage changed several times thereafter: after 1945 the arrival of refugee families and children from neighbouring villages significantly increased pupil numbers. With restructurings in the school system the institution became a primary and later a secondary school; regular instruction ended in 1978, after which district offices used the building.

After reunification the decision was taken to use the prominently located building as a regional museum. Following conversion work, the Heimatmuseum Marzahn opened in 1999; after the district reform in 2001 the collection was expanded with exhibits from Hellersdorf and a farmhouse was purchased as exhibition space. Today the Museum Marzahn‑Hellersdorf consists of two houses in Alt‑Marzahn: the former schoolhouse houses administration, events, temporary exhibitions and an archive; a second, non‑listed barn (Alt‑Marzahn 55) presents the permanent exhibition on the development of Marzahn‑Hellersdorf including Biesdorf, Kaulsdorf and Mahlsdorf as well as archaeological finds spanning roughly 11,000 years. This exhibition will be closed in November 2025 and reinstalled in renovated rooms in the courtyard complex at Alt‑Marzahn 23; the ensemble together with the Alte Schule is intended then to complement the museum.

Architecturally, the former schoolhouse has an almost square plan of about 17 × 17 metres, a low curved gable on the northeast side with a double round‑arched portal and flanking external staircases. The façade details and portal are characteristic of late Historicism; the articulated hipped roof is covered with red tiles. The second museum building is an unrendered brick structure approximately 27 metres long; an adjoining section (Alt‑Marzahn 57) is used for commercial purposes.