Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (HLMD) is a large multidisciplinary museum in Darmstadt, Germany. The museum exhibits Rembrandt, Beuys, a primeval horse and a mastodon under the slogan "The whole world under one roof".[4][5] As one of the oldest public museums in Germany, it has c. 80,000 visitors every year and a collection size of 1.35 million objects.[5][6] Since 2019, Martin Faass has been director of the museum.[7][8] It is one of the three Hessian State museums, in addition to the museums in Kassel and Wiesbaden.[9] Similar institutions in Europe are the Universalmuseum Joanneum in Graz and the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.[5]
 Front side of the museum in 2015 | |
 | |
Former name | Großherzoglich Hessisches Landesmuseum zu Darmstadt[1] |
|---|---|
| Established | 12 July 1820 |
| Location | Friedensplatz 1, Darmstadt, Germany |
| Coordinates | 49°52′30″N 8°39′13″E / 49.8749°N 8.6535°E |
| Type | Multidisciplinary museum |
| Key holdings | Drawings Dürer/Rembrandt, Block Beuys, A Forest of Sculptures, Messel pit fossils, American mastodon |
| Collections | Paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings, geology, paleontology, zoology, cultural history |
| Collection size |
|
| Visitors | c. 80,000 |
| Founder | Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse |
| Director | Martin Faass |
| Architects |
|
| Owner | Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts |
| Employees | 83 (2014)[2] |
| Public transit access | Tram, bus: Schloss, Luisenplatz |
| Nearest car park | Schlossgarage |
| Website | www.hlmd.de |
History
Art and natural history collections of the Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt have been established since the 17th century.[10] The museum was founded on 12 July 1820[11] with the donation of the collections of Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse.[12] Initially located in the Baroque part of the Residential Palace Darmstadt,[13] the museum moved in 1906 to a nearby new building.[5] In 1937, 82 works of Modern art were confiscated during the Degenerate art campaign.[14][15][16] In the Brandnacht (fire night) on 11 to 12 September 1944 the museum building was partly destroyed;[17][18][19] it was reconstructed and reopened in 1955.[12][20]
Building
The main building was begun in 1897 by Alfred Messel and inaugurated in 1906.[20][3][21] The encyclopedic museum[22] consists of several period rooms or experience spaces,[23] a monumental entrance hall with the staircase in Palladian architecture, a Pompeian style wing (509 BC – 400 AD) for the ancient art (including Roman courtyard and Oceanus mosaic),[24][25] Romanesque corridors and chapels (900–1300) for the medieval treasure art, a Late Gothic hall (1350–1500) for the historical weapons, the Italian Renaissance Chiavenna room (c. 1580) for the Princely Treasury and corresponding open courtyards.[26] The large east-wing Baroque hall Großer Saal with an imposing barrel vault is used for special exhibitions.[27] This asymmetric agglomeration of architectural styles, according to the design philosophy "Form follows function",[11] is embedded in a rather rigid grid.[28] The south-east tower, containing the library,[13] is based on the tower of an 18th century Baroque plan for the Residential Palace Darmstadt by Louis Remy de la Fosse,[29] that was realized only partly.[30]
Floor plan at the time of construction, published 1911
Source:[31]
Location
The museum is located between Residential Palace Darmstadt and the urban park Herrngarten.[3] Nearby are the neoclassical former court theatre Haus der Geschichte Darmstadt (House of History) by Georg Moller,[32] the squares Friedensplatz and Karolinenplatz, as well as the street Zeughausstraße (Cityring).[33][34]
City Centre Darmstadt
Renovations and extensions
A large extension on the west side of the main building was designed by Reinhold Kargel,[35] completed in 1984.[20][21] As of 2023[update], the controversial,[23] confusing[36] modern building extension houses the painting gallery with 400 paintings.[37][38] After major €80 million renovations[22] from 2007 onwards, it reopened on 13 September 2014.[17][3] About 100,000 exhibits are displayed on 9,000 m2 (97,000 sq ft) of exhibition space; the complete floor area is 12,000 m2 (130,000 sq ft).[39] In its high-rise north wing, the museum houses the Art Nouveau/prehistory and early history, zoology/handicrafts, geology and modern/contemporary arts collections on floors one above the other.[21][40] Cultural history is presented in the lower south wing.[40]
Entrance hall
Roman courtyard and Oceanus mosaic
Gothic Armoury hall
Chiavenna room
.jpg)
Collections
The museum is especially noted for its art collection, including Pieter Brueghel the Elder's The Magpie on the Gallows, and one of the plaques from the Magdeburg Ivories (c. 968).[41] There are also strong collections of Art Nouveau objects from several countries,[42] and German, Dutch and Flemish paintings.[43] Basis of the graphic collection are the works by Dürer and Rembrandt, bought by museum founder Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse in 1803.[10] Interested visitors can request original prints and drawings in the study room.[44]
It also features an important natural history collection, with for instance fossils from the nearby Messel pit[45][46] and a historic American mastodon skeleton ("Peale's mastodon"), originally exhibited at Peale's Philadelphia Museum,[47] purchased by the Darmstadt naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup.[48][49] Also notable are the reconstructions of eleven hominid busts[50] and ten large-scale habitat dioramas.[26][51][52]
The Simon Spierer Collection A Forest of Sculptures includes works of well-known international artists of the 20th century from Early Modern to Contemporary art, like Constantin Brâncuși, Alberto Giacometti, Max Ernst, Henry Moore, Tony Cragg,[53] Hans Arp, Barbara Hepworth.[54][55] Spierer donated the sculpture collection in 2004.[56] Stele and Torso are the predominant motifs.[56]
The museum owns 290 objects by Joseph Beuys in seven rooms ("Block Beuys"),[5][57][58] the world's largest complex of his works.[56] Key works of the 1970 installation are expansive felt objects (1964–67), Fond III (layered felt and copper, 1969),[59] Scenes from the Deer Hunt (big closet with compartments filled with many small objects, 1961)[60] and Chair with Fat (1963).[61][62] Beuys worked on the installation until his death in 1986.[63] Richard Rijnvos wrote music to each of the seven rooms.[64][65]
Gallery
Magdeburg Ivories Christ healing the possessed of Gerasa
Ortenberg Altarpiece, c. 1420
Pieter Bruegel the Elder The Magpie on the Gallows
Peter Paul Rubens Diana Returning from the Chase
Arnold Böcklin Chained Prometheus
August Macke Walk on the Bridge
Peale's Mastodon
Fossil juwel beetle Buprestidae from Messel pit
Study room: Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Skeleton Rider, c. 1655, pen and ink in brown
.jpg)
Special exhibitions
The museum regularly hosts temporary special exhibitions at Großer Saal.[66]
- 2002 Ausstellung Wüste Darmstadt[67]
- 2014 Ausstellung "Karl der Große 1200 Jahre Mythos und Wirklichkeit" 2014–2015 Darmstadt[68]
- 2015 Zwischen Aufklärung und Romantik : Zeichnungen, Aquarelle und Ölstudien aus der Gründungszeit des Hessischen Landesmuseums Darmstadt[69]
- 2015 Homo expanding worlds – originale Urmenschen-Funde aus fünf Weltregionen[70]
- 2016 Gestaltete Sehnsucht Reiseplakate um 1900[71]
- 2016 Tony Cragg: Unnatural selection[72]
- 2022 Remember Venice! Bernardo Bellotto zeichnet[73]
- 2023 Urknall der Kunst Moderne trifft Vorzeit[74]
Controversies
See also
Films
- "Museum check with Markus Brock: Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. 30 min. First aired: 21 February 2021". 3sat-Mediathek (in German). 27 March 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
References
Further reading
- Abrams, Michael (4 March 2015). "Hesse State Museum reopens with more art and history". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- Fichtner, Lutz; Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (2015). Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt – Museumsführer (in German). Regensburg: Schnell et Steiner. ISBN 978-3-7954-2875-4. OCLC 900582028.
- Faass, Martin; Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (2019). 200 Jahre universales Denken : Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt 1820-2020 (in German). Darmstadt: Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. OCLC 1164645438.
- Neumann, Michael (1977). Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (in German). Braunschweig: Westermann. OCLC 310439527.
- Ebert-Schifferer, Sybille; Gaehtgens, Thomas W.; Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt; Fondation Paribas (1996). Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (in German). [Antwerpen]: Fondation Paribas. ISBN 2-911809-01-7. OCLC 75944123.
- Hessisches Landesmuseum; Woelk, Moritz (1999). Bildwerke vom 9. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert aus Stein, Holz und Ton im Hessischen Landesmuseum Darmstadt (in German). Berlin: Reimer. ISBN 3-496-01204-8. OCLC 46634303.
- Schmidt, Adolf; Landesbibliothek (Darmstadt, Germany); Grossherzogl Hessisches Landesmuseum (Darmstadt, Germany) (1906). Baron Hüpsch und sein Kabinett (1705-1805) : ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Hofbibliothek und des Museums zu Darmstadt (in German). Darmstadt: Historischer Verein für das grossherzogtum Hessen. OCLC 66543586.
- Grossherzogl Hessisches Landesmuseum (Darmstadt, Germany) (1907). Handzeichungen Arnold Böcklins : Stiftung des Freiherrn Maximilian v. Heyl und der Freifrau D. v. Heyl (in German). [Darmstadt]: Grossherzoglich Hessisches Landesmuseum. OCLC 1001191739.
- Grossherzogl Hessisches Landesmuseum (Darmstadt, Germany); Back, Friedrich (1908). Führer durch die Kunst- und Historischen Sammlungen. Darmstadt: [L.C. Wittich'sche Hofbuchdr.] OCLC 192874389.
- Buchhold, Ludwig; Grossherzogl Hessisches Landesmuseum (Darmstadt, Germany). (1895). Die Antikensammlungen des Grossherzoglichen Museums in Darmstadt (in German). Darmstadt: C.F. Winter'sche Buchdruckerei. OCLC 39648451.
- Architecture
- Jülich, Theo (2014). Alfred Messel und sein Darmstädter Landesmuseum Geschichte und Architektur (in German). Regensburg: Schnell + Steiner. ISBN 978-3-7954-2897-6. OCLC 892663194.
- Paintings
- Hessisches Landesmuseum; Howaldt, Gabriele; Bott, Barbara (1979). Malerei 1800 bis um 1900 (in German). Hanau: Peters. ISBN 3-87627-236-X. OCLC 6626741.
- Grossherzogl. Hessisches Landesmuseum; Back, Friedrich (1914). Verzeichnis der Gemälde: Grossherzoglich Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt. Darmstadt: Das Museum.
- Grossherzogl Hessisches Landesmuseum (Darmstadt, Germany); Hofmann, Rudolf (1885). Die Gemälde-Sammlung des Grossherzoglichen Museums zu Darmstadt (in German). Darmstadt: Grossh. Staatsverlags. OCLC 213606779.
- Fischer, Katinka (20 December 2020). "Hessisches Landesmuseum: Von Böcklin bis Beuys". FAZ.NET (in German). Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- Paleontology and archaeology
- Gruber, Gabriele; Sandrock, Oliver; Wappler, Torsten (2018). "DARMSTADT: The Paleontological Collections of Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt". Paleontological Collections of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Natural History Collections. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 157–164. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-77401-5_14. ISBN 978-3-319-77400-8. ISSN 2510-1862.
- "Ein Igel mit Helm und schuppigem Schwanz". Der Standard (in German). 27 February 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
- "Mysteries of the first mastodon". Princeton University Press. 29 May 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- "Lost". The New Yorker. 18 December 1954. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- Schaaffhausen, Hermann (1883). Die Anthropologische Sammlung Des Grossherzoglichen Naturalien-cabinets Im Alten Schlosse. Anthropologischen Sammlungen Deutschlands ;9. Braunschweig: F. Vieweg und Sohn.
- Spierer Collection
- Boike, Ina; Anker, Valentina; Spierer, Simon; Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt (2005). Ein Wald der Skulpturen : Sammlung Simon Spierer : [Publikation anläßlich der Einrichtung der Dauerausstellung "Ein Wald der Skulpturen. Sammlung Simon Spierer"] (in German). Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz. ISBN 978-3-7757-1609-3. OCLC 217558796.
- Block Beuys
- Bracker, Alison; Barker, Rachel (1 November 2005). "Beuys is Dead: Long Live Beuys! Characterising Volition, Longevity, and Decision-Making in the Work of Joseph Beuys – Tate Papers". Tate. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- Hallett, Florence (29 September 2021). "The genius, and lies, of Joseph Beuys". The New European. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- Schott, Günter; Lorenz, Inge; Thorbecke, Jan Peter; Pohl, Klaus-D. (2014). Block Beuys Erinnerungen von Günter Schott, 1969 bis 2010 Restaurator am Hessischen Landesmuseum Darmstadt (in German). [Darmstadt]: Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt. ISBN 978-3-926527-85-1. OCLC 900879444.
- Beuys, Joseph; Beuys, Eva; Beuys, Wenzel; Beuys, Jessyka; Abate, Claudio; Hamilton, Richard; Hessisches Landesmuseum (1997). Joseph Beuys, Block Beuys : der Block Beuys im Hessischen Landesmuseum Darmstadt (in German). München: Schirmer/Mosel. ISBN 3-88814-829-4. OCLC 38851699.
- Leve, Manfred; Beuys, Joseph; Blume, Eugen (2004). Leve sieht Beuys : Block Beuys, Fotografien = Block Beuys, photographs (in German). Göttingen: Steidl. ISBN 3-86521-001-5. OCLC 56925385.
- Malaka, Stephan (2008). Die Aktualisierung der Alchemie im Werk von Joseph Beuys: der Beuys-Block als Manifestation eines okkultistisch geprägten Weltbildes [The updating of alchemy in Joseph Beuys' work : the "Beuys-Block" as a manifestation of a world view shaped by occultism] (dissertation thesis). Braunschweig: Hochschule für Bildende Künste. OCLC 455628131. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- Weimarck, Ann-Charlotte (2011). Joseph Beuys : fett och filt : en forskningskritisk essä (in Swedish). Stockholm/Stehag: Brutus Östlings Bokförlag Symposion. ISBN 978-91-7139-865-9. OCLC 748349271.
External links
- Official website (in German and English)
- "Willkommen". Freunde des Hessischen Landes Museums Darmstadt (in German). 11 August 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
