Stadthistorisches Museum Mainz

Description

In the Mainz Citadel, in immediate proximity to the Drususstein (Bau D), the Stadthistorisches Museum Mainz conveys the city’s roughly 2,000-year history. Founded in 2000, the museum is run by the sponsoring association „Stadthistorisches Museum Mainz“ e. V.; the City of Mainz provides infrastructural support and, in individual cases, financial assistance.

The museum presents rotating special exhibitions as well as four permanent displays. These cover a panoramic overview of the city’s history, aspects of Jewish life in Mainz, the economic and labour history of the 19th and 20th centuries, and a view of historical children’s worlds. In addition, the museum organises lectures, readings and guided tours.

The smallest permanent exhibition is devoted to everyday childhood in past eras and presents historical toys mainly from the 20th century; a fully preserved home marionette theatre by Hans Kohl and Walter Oberholzer from 1925 serves as the focal point. A connecting exhibition corridor has, since 2005, functioned as a compact journey through Mainz’s urban history, from the earliest traces of settlement to the end of the 20th century.

The presentation „Magenza – 1000 Jahre jüdisches Mainz“ sets out the city’s long Jewish tradition in five chronological sections: the Middle Ages, the early modern period, emancipation and equality, persecution and extermination, and new beginnings and reconciliation (up to 2000). A translation leaflet is available for English-speaking visitors. The economic and labour history section displays products from key industries such as furniture manufacturing, metalworking, breweries, and wine and sparkling-wine cellars, and reconstructs everyday spaces such as kitchens and living rooms.

Publishing activities include a dedicated series of publications with catalogues for special exhibitions as well as more recent illustrated volumes with historical views of Mainz. The sponsoring association and the museum cooperate with the City of Mainz, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and other local partners. Personnel tasks are carried out on a voluntary basis; the association largely covers the running costs from its own funds. To ensure long-term stability, the non-profit Stiftung Stadthistorisches Museum Mainz was established in 2013.