Deutsches Theatermuseum

Description

In the gallery wing on the Hofgarten in Munich, the Deutsches Theatermuseum presents the history and practice of German-language theatre. The museum is housed in the Churfürstlichen Galerie (Galeriestraße 4a), an early Neoclassical, elongated building dating from 1780/1781 with an arcade on the Hofgarten side.

The institution was founded on 24 June 1910 on the basis of the dissolution of a foundation established by the actress Clara Ziegler; her estate formed the initial collection. In the following years the collection grew considerably, and in 1932 it was moved to the exhibition rooms of the Residenz. The reopening there was politically instrumentalized; as a result, in 1935 a dismissal occurred in the museum’s leadership. During the Second World War the original residence was destroyed, but the bulk of the holdings remained intact. Since 1953 the museum has been housed in the gallery wing on the Hofgarten. In 1979 the institution was granted the status of a state museum and the name Deutsches Theatermuseum, together with an institutionalized mandate for its collections.

The museum has no permanent exhibition; instead, thematic temporary exhibitions rotate, bringing together stage sets, theatre architectural plans, props, costumes, masks and audiovisual documents. Outstanding is the photograph collection of over five million analog images, regarded as the world’s most extensive collection of theatrical photography, comprising production, role and portrait photographs as well as poster and postcard images. The archive is supplemented by extensive graphic holdings (around 350,000 drawings and prints), a significant collection of theatre models (approximately 400 assembled models and numerous model parts), and extensive written material including autographs, prompt books and diaries.

The museum’s specialised library is aimed at theatre research: it began with the founder’s private collection; today the library comprises around 100,000 volumes, a reference collection with open-shelf material in the reading room, and a digital catalogue for ordering items from the stacks. The Deutsches Theatermuseum regards itself as the memory of the theatre and preserves material testimony of theatre history for research and the public.