Erkenbert-Museum

Description

TThe Erkenbert Museum plays a unifying and identifying role for its hometown of Frankenthal in Rhineland-Palatinate: it preserves traces of the town's local history, culture and art and makes them accessible to visitors.

The museum is housed in a former bank building on the central place of the town, next to the City Hall and churches. Its name recalls Erkenbert (c. 1079–1132), who founded the Augustinian canonry in Frankenthal in 1119; the structural remains of this canonry, located in the immediate vicinity of the present museum building, are popularly referred to as the “Erkenbert Ruin."

The history of the collection goes back to the 19th century. In 1893, the  “Frankenthaler Altertumsverein”, an association dedicated to the town's history founded in 1892, first established the museum in the former grain store of the former Augustinian canonry. At the beginning of the 20th century, the collection was moved to an upper floor of the building; parts of it were lost in the air raids of 1943 and the remaining remnants of the building were demolished in 1960. In 1986, the Altertumsverein and the city agreed to operate the museum jointly. The new home in the former municipal savings bank was renovated from 1988, opened in 1990 and is currently being renovated again.

The permanent exhibition is currently closed for renovation. Once a year, a special exhibition is still held on the museum's ground floor. During the closure and renovation phase, a highlight exhibition of the museum's objects is on display on the 1st floor of the Frankenthal town hall. This spans roughly 1,500 years of Frankenthal's art and cultural history — a former fortress and garrison town that was known as the "Third Capital of the Electoral Palatinate.” Exhibits range from early medieval grave finds dating to around 500 AD to regionally produced industrial goods of the 20th century. Accompanying events and guided tours are offered, including programs for children, young people and school classes.

Notable items in the collection include paintings by Frankenthal landscape painters such as Gillis van Coninxloo and Anton Mirou from around 1600, as well as Frankenthal porcelain from the second half of the 18th century, which was once used at European princely courts. Another focus is Frankenthal's industrial history.