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Pre- and Ancient HistoryArt and Culture from Late Antiquity to the 15th CenturyPerceptions of the Middle Ages and the Founding Concept of the Germanisches NationalmuseumLate Middle AgesGarden and Weaponry HallHistorical Musical InstrumentsMuseum of Applied Arts

Renaissance. Baroque. EnlightenmentApothecaries, History of Medicine and History of TradesDecorative Arts of the 17th and 18th CenturiesClothing from the 18th to the 20th CenturiesScientific Instruments

Art and Culture of the 20th CenturyThe European Ethnology CollectionRural Life

Bourgeois Art and Culture in the 19th CenturyPiety

Worlds of Play. Children‘s Toys and Adults’ Games from 1550 to 1950 S

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Pre- and Ancient History

Art and Culture from Late Antiquity to the 15th Century

Perceptions of the Middle Ages and the Founding Concept of the Germanisches Nationalmuseums

Late Middle Ages

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Worlds of Play

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Garden and Weaponry Hall Museum of Applied Arts

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Historical Musical Instruments

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Golden Cone of Ezelsdorf-Buch, 11th – 9th century B.C.

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Long before written sources existed, humans learned how to control fire and to utilize tools. They subsisted from hunting and from the fruits provided by nature. Thus began the evolution of culture. This display presents the development of tools, ornaments, vessels, and weapons from Europe from the Stone Age up until the Carolingian era. The exhibition begins with an approximately 120,000-year-old hand axe, a universal tool made of flint. Among the most significant objects are the Golden Cone from Ezelsdorf-Buch (headdress of a Bronze Age sun priest), a sumptuous, approximately 1500-year-old eagle fibula, and a richly-decorated Roman parade helmet.

Pre- and Ancient History

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01. Eagle Fibula, ca. 500 A.D. 02. Bull Sculpture, 6th century B.C. 03. Roman Parade Helmet, ca. 150 – 200 A.D.

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This combined exhibition of sculptures, textiles, art trea-sures, stained glass, and paintings presents fascinating views on the period from the Carolingians up until the 15th century. Between these two poles, regional and national artistic developments are explained, as are changes in form and function. Superb furnishings provide insight into the opulence and pictorial programs of medieval churches and demonstrate their original liturgical uses. With the Carolin-gian Ardenne Cross, the Codex Aureus gold book cover from Echternach, and the Armilla from the circle of Frederick Barbarossa, the museum‘s holdings of gold work are world-renowned. Crowning the exceptional collection of medieval tapestries is the “Spieleteppich” (game tapestry) from circa 1400.

Art and Culture from Late Antiquity to the 15th Century

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01. Tapestry Depicting Courtly Games, ca. 1400 02. Book Cover of the Codex Aureus, 985 – 991 03. Lion Aquamanile, late 12th century

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Medieval art is one of the primary areas of collecting at the GNM. Providing an introduction within the lapidarium, medi-eval objects are contrasted with 19th century perceptions of the Middle Ages. The focal point is composed of the reliquary shrine, as one of the most historically significant pieces from the era of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. A series of stained-glass windows from 1875/76 illustrates the 19th century treatment and creative embellishment of histori-cal sources during the rediscovery of the Middle Ages. The 19th century view of the Middle Ages leads to the found-ing concept of the GNM between the Late Romantic cult of the Middle Ages and the scholarly practice of musealization. Early acquisitions reflect the range of collection interests and the appreciation of history at the time. Documentation media such as cast copies, copies of pictures, early photographs, index cards, and even computers exemplify the changes in museum work.

Perceptions of the Middle Ages and the Founding Concept of the Germanisches NationalmuseumsR O O M S 2 - 3

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01. Reliquary Shrine, 1438 – 40 02. Philipp Veit, Germania, 1848

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The art and culture of the Late Middle Ages occupies a special position in the holdings of the GNM. Nuremberg is represented by internationally-celebrated works, such as the 14th century bronze fountain figure of Hansel, or the original figures from the Schöner Brunnen (Beautiful Fountain) at the city‘s Hauptmarkt (central marketplace). In particular abun-dance are works from the late 15th century by artists such as Veit Stoss, Adam Kraft, Tilman Riemenschneider, Hans Pleydenwurff, and Michael Wolgemut in the Bell Hall, Medie-val Hall, Refectory and Small Cloister. Also located there are exceptional sculptures and paintings from other German-speaking regions, such as the Annunciation by Konrad Witz from Basel. Another group is comprised of paintings from the Cologne school of painters from the circle of Stefan Lochner. The monks‘ cells of the former Carthusian monastery contain diverse references to Late Medieval daily life.

Late Middle Ages

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01. Master of the Augustinian Altar, St. Luke Painting the Virgin, 1487 02. Veit Stoss, Archangel Raphael and Young Tobias, 1516 03. Girdle Book, 1471

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The exhibition of historic weaponry and hunting relics spans the period from the Early Middle Ages to the 18th century. A broad spectrum is featured, from the smallest miniature pistols to imposing cannon barrels. Also on exhibit are items from the world of knights, well-armed townspeople, mercenaries and courtly culture. The so-called pot helmet is outstanding and excellently preserved. An extraordinarily rare collection of tournament armor as well as valuable early firearms round out the picture.The second room spotlights the world of architectural gar-dens. The sculptures on display are an integral part of this garden style, which was adopted from France during the 18th century. The geometrically-designed miniature landscapes include avenues, terraces, hedgerows, and water features. Attesting to longings for idylls and intimacy, the gardens also provided wonderful backdrops for festivities with dancing, plays, and games.

Garden and Weaponry Hall

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01. Anton Peffenhauser, Foot Combat Armor, 1591 02. Bonaventura Joseph Mutschele, Youth as a Gentleman, ca. 1762 03. Crossbow, 2nd half of the 16th century

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The collection of historical musical instruments ranks among the most significant of its kind worldwide, preserving inst-ruments of every type from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Internationally unparalleled is the large inventory of historical keyboard instruments, with numerous early fortepianos of primarily southern German and Viennese provenance. An ad-ditional focus is comprised of musical instruments from the formerly Free Imperial City of Nuremberg, especially brass and woodwind instruments, as well as string instruments and lutes. Within the exhibition can be seen, among others, one of the oldest surviving clarinets and one of the first German grand pianos. The workshop of a clarinet and oboe maker and a machine for winding piano strings demonstrate which traditional mechanical techniques are still used for building musical instruments in the 20th century.

Historical Musical Instruments

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01. Isaac Ehe, Bass Trombone, 1612 02. Mar-tinus van der Biest, Double Virginal (“Mother and Child”), 1580 03. Figure of a Lady with a Clavichord, ca. 1780

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After the first World’s Fair in London in 1851, particular attention was paid to the decorative and applied arts and led to the establishment of numerous museums in Europe. The origin of the Bavarian Museum of Applied Arts in Nu-remberg, founded in 1869, is also a result of this movement. Its collection encompasses approximately 16,000 objects, which have been in the GNM on loan from the Free State of Bavaria since 2003. As the structure of the collection was designed to be international, the holdings also include exhibits from the Far East, the Middle East, and America. Chronologically, the individual objects range from Antiquity to the 1960s. Especially worth mentioning are the works from around 1900, as the director of the Bavarian Museum of Applied Arts established master’s courses in the applied arts and was therefore also instrumental in their reform.

Museum of Applied Arts

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01. View into the Knights’ Hall 02. Frie-drich Adler (Model), Ornamental Punch Bowl, 1910 03. August Geigenberger, Toy Car, 1903

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Pharmacies, History of Medicine and History of Trades

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Renaissance. Baroque. Enlightenment

Decorative Arts of the 17th and 18th Centuries

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Clothing from the 18th to the 20th Centuries

Scientific Instruments

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Martin Behaim, Globe, 1492 – 93

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In these renovated rooms, art of the Early Modern Period will be presented on the basis of a new exhibition concept. The arc spans the period from the discovery of the New World, with Behaim’s Globe from circa 1500, to the Rococo and Enlightenment in the late 18th century. The exhibition covers major works from all areas of the museum’s collec-tion. In addition to paintings and sculptures, it also includes stained-glass windows, the decorative arts, domestic culture, musical instruments, medals, textiles, and jewelry. Thematic areas of focus, such as the Reformation, nature and Antiqui-ty, as well as portraiture, make it possible to experience the objects in the context of their cultural history. The exhibition treats the collection and representation of art as compre-hensive themes. At the same time, it will place the work of exceptional artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Rembrandt, as well as Peter Vischer the Elder, Ehr-gott Bendl, and Franz Xaver Messerschmidt in a new light.

Renaissance. Baroque. Enlightenment

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01. Ehrgott Bendl, John the Evangelist, 1697 02. Ship as Table Centerpiece (Schlüsselfelder Ship), ca. 1503 03. Albrecht Dürer, Emperor Charle-magne, 1512/13 (Detail)

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Old apothecaries are fascinating for the visual system of drawers and jars needed to prevent the confusion of fre-quently lethal substances with one another, as well for as the luxuriant shop furnishings that reflected the importance of the apothecary’s profession. The collection of medical instruments, such as amputation saws and irons to cauterize wounds, alludes to the painful methods of treatment. The devices used to produce medicines that were often minimally effective are reminiscent of alchemistic experiments. Until the 19th century, urban trades were traditionally orga-nized into guilds. Influencing every domain of life, these associations found expression in trade symbols, trunks and chests, jugs, goblets and coffin plates. On an internal and external level, utilitarian and ceremonial objects represented trades as powerful organizations of a social estate. Master-piece models indicate the high standard of quality.

Apothecaries, History of Medicine and History of Trades

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01. Three (Welcome) Goblets of the Nuremberg Gingerbread Bakers, 1657/60 and 1683 02. Models of Mas-terpieces of the Nuremberg Compass Makers, 16th/17th century 03. Hirsch Apothecary, early 18th century

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Tapestries and elaborate wallpaper coverings, exquisite furniture and magnificent ovens, as well as a myriad of decorated objects, were a part of 17th and 18th century re-fined domestic culture. Furniture-making was characterized by ingenuity and high craftsmanship; this is evidenced by the opulent Baroque intarsia work by the Spindler brothers, as well as by the clear and classical design voca-bulary of a roll-top desk by David Roentgen. Even today, the compli-cated mechanism of the latter is astounding. The diversity of the German-speaking cultural region found expression in the applied arts: tin-glazed pottery, porcelain, and silver bestow rooms and tables with festive splendor. Cut glass gradually replaced chased metal drinking vessels, revealing the artisan‘s technical brilliance and outstanding artistic ability.

Decorative Arts of the 17th and 18th Centuries

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01. Hunting Goblet of Electoral Princes Frederick Augustus of Saxony, ca. 1720 02. “Augustus Rex” Vase, ca. 1730 03. David Roentgen, Roll-top Desk, ca. 1785

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This exhibition features women‘s, men‘s, and children‘s clothing beyond its stylistic changes to include its diverse social references. The first section illustrates the most significant stages from three centuries of the history of clothing. The second section is devoted to particular themes, including swimwear, undergarments, children’s clothing, distinctive features of regional dress, wartime and post-war make-do fashion, wedding garments, headgear, shoes, and the political appropriation of clothing. Exclusively original garments provide an understanding of forms and modes of wear, materials, production, and the social sym-bolism of clothing. The joint presentation of the costume and regional dress collections places this unique rural clothing into its historical context, imparting new insights into the relationship between fashion and regional dress.

Clothing from the 18th to the 20th Centuries

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01. Weinberg Hats (“Meraner Saltner”), ca. 1825/1905 02. Evening Pumps, ca. 1910 03. Sailor Suit, ca. 1925/30

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These instruments, used in research or developed as a result thereof, stem from the fields of astronomy, geodesy, chronometry, optics, and medicine. The collection of astrolabes, i.e. disc-shaped astronomical instruments, is of international renown. Among the gear clocks, a Nurem-berg tower clock with an hourly chime, Philipp Matthäus Hahn’s complex large armillary sphere, and the small portable cylindrical clock ascribed to Peter Henlein are especially noteworthy. In addition, there exists a large-scale collection of diptych sundials with built-in compas-ses, made from metal, wood, and ivory. Although relatively small in terms of numbers, the collection of scientific instruments is one of the most outstanding of its kind.

Scientific Instruments

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01. Tower Clock with Hourly Chime, ear- ly 15th century 02. Johannes Praeto- rius, Torquetum, 1568 03. Peter Hen-lein, Cylindrical Pocket Watch, ca. 1510

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The European Ethnology Collection

Art and Culture of the 20th Century

Worlds of Play

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Rural Life

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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, The Drinker (Self-Portrait), 1914

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Established during the incipient Federal Republic of Germany, this collection includes painting, sculpture, and design. Among its earliest acquisitions was Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s self-portrait as a drinker, a major work of Expressionism the artist painted in response to the nationalistic blindness at the start of the First World War. The collection displays artistic developments in Germany with regard to transnational views of modernity. Examples such as Berlin‘s “Sturm” Gallery by Herwath Walden or the Bauhaus program shed light upon the concept of cultural internationalism. The “ethnic” art of the Third Reich is shown in contrast to the progressive currents of the Wei-mar Republic. Post-1945 art is exemplified by works from the movements of Lyrical Abstraction and Fluxus in West Germany, but also by paintings by artists from the GDR.

Art and Culture of the 20th Century

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01. Hannah Höch, Man and Machine, 1921 02. William Wauer, Herwarth Walden, 1917 03. Mar-garete Schütte-Lihotzky (Design), Frankfurt Kitchen, 1928

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Established in approximately 1890, this collection is classi-fied with early representations of European ethnology, which was a growing discipline at the time. The impetus for its formation was a desire to depict areas of rural life that had been subjected to major changes under the potency of industrialization. The trans-regional orientation of the col-lection is unique throughout Germany. Individual furniture items and objects from rural society serve as focal points and facilitate an overview of the most important furniture types from different regions. The compilation of vessels made from different materials reveals the influence of the urban realm upon rural handicrafts and the symbolic dependence between them.

The European Ethnology Collection

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01. Two Mangle Boards, late 18th cen-tury 02. Crock with Handle, Marburg Ware, ca. 1840 03. Armoire from the region around Linz a. d. D., 1790/1840

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The section on rural life constitutes one focal point of the GNM’s European ethnology collection. For the museum‘s 50th anniversary in 1902, a wing with so-called rustic rooms was opened. Since 1970, following war-related damages to the collection, the rooms have been on exhibit in modified form. The “Flett und Döns” – hearth and living room – dis-play the domestic section of a Low German hall house and are visitor-accessible. A living room from Hindeloopen in the Netherlands prompted great interest at the Paris World’s Fair in 1878, resulting in the arrival of corresponding pieces into the Nuremberg collection. A room from the Hallig islands, as well as rooms from Kremper Marsch, Unterinntal, and Thurgau in Switzerland, convey a geographically far-flung, yet idealized overview of the sophisticated lifestyle of the wealthy landsman.

Rural Life

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01. Hearth of a Low German Hall House, 16th to early 19th century 02. Drop-leaf table from Hindeloopen, 2nd half of the 18th century 03. Room from Thurgau, Paneling from 1666

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Bourgeois Art and Culture in the 19th Century

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Hermann Kellner the Elder, The Extraction of Natural Gas and the Blessing of the Gaslight, 1864/67

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This all-encompassing collection was created after the Second World War in order to reflect upon the cultural-his-torical backgrounds of its own era. It addresses the radical change from an estates-based society to one of the middle class, highlighting the diversity of independent, middle-class perspectives. It outlines a framework of European develop-ment and at the same time, addresses trends specific to Germany before 1871, when it was comprised of several individual states. The subjects of Romantic Nationalism, the failed March Revolution, and the founding of the German Reich reflect stages of German national history with which the museum is closely linked. Another emphasis is placed on objects from the rapidly-evolving art industry, which recall the dynamic of technical progress and the economic upswing of the middle class.

Bourgeois Art and Culture in the 19th Century

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01. Johann Heinrich Dannecker (De-sign 1805) / Theodor Wagner (Marble Version 1837), Herm Bust of Friedrich Schiller 02. Ferdinand G. Waldmüller, Children in a Forest, 1858 03. View into the collection

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The votive offerings and images on display offer a cross-section of various manifestations of piety in the Roman Catholic regions of Southern Germany and Austria. Supple-mented by donor portraits and paintings featuring pilgri-mages from approximately 1500, the exhibit illustrates the newly-revived, rural use of votives during the 17th century. The objects are fascinating sources of social, cultural, and medical history.The furnishings presented in this section also refer to the human wish to privately affirm the presence of God and various saints with symbols and paintings. A similar func-tion holds true for the reverse-glass paintings produced in large quantities during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Piety

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01. Armoire, Miesbach region, ca. 1860 02. Ex Voto of Breasts, ca. 1830 03. Votive Image with the Fourteen Holy Helpers, Bavaria, 1779

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Four large 17th -century dollhouses from Nuremberg’s patriciate constitute the focal point of the toy collection. They were created in order to instruct and on a small scale, reflect the transformation of domestic culture. The Stromer Dollhouse from 1639 is a faithful reproduction of a period building. Boys’ and girls’ toys from the 18th and 19th cen- turies document gender-specific child-rearing practices. Playthings for boys consisted of tin figures, wagons, building blocks, and optical toys. Various dolls as well as dollhouses belonged to the girls’ world of play. Another sequence centers upon alternative toys designed by artists at the start of the 20th century. Paper theaters and histo-rical games for adults round out the exhibition.

Worlds of Play. Children’s Toys and Adults’ Games from 1550 to 1950

01. Stromer Dollhouse, 1639 02. Bing Brothers, Automobile, 1898 03. Billy Goat Riding Toy, 1903

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Selected Publications

K l e i d e r w e c h s e l Frauen-, Männer- und Kinderkleidung des 18. bis 20. Jahrhunderts (Die Schausammlungen des Germanischen Nationalmuseums, Vol. 1). Nuremberg 2002. 272 pp., 57 black/white and 270 color illustrations.ISBN 978-3-926982-90-2€ 34.80

M i t t e l a l t e rKunst und Kultur von der Spätantike bis zum 15. Jahrhundert(Die Schausammlungen des Germanischen Nationalmuseums, Vol. 2). Nuremberg 2007. 452 pp., 21 black/white and 438 color illustrations. ISBN 978-3-936688-21-4€ 39.00

r e n a i s s a n c e . B a r o c K . a u f K l ä r u n g Kunst und Kultur vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert (Die Schausammlungen des Germanischen Nationalmuseums, Vol. 3). Nuremberg 2010. 564 pp., 643 color illustrations. ISBN 978-3-936688-47-4€ 49.00

i M p r i n t Publisher: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Kartäusergasse 1, 90402 Nuremberg, Germany Tel. + 49 911 13 31-0, Fax + 49 911 13 31-200, www.gnm.de, info@gnm.deImage credits: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, NurembergEditor: Andrea LangerDesign: Hoffmann und Partner Werbeagentur GmbH, MagdeburgVersion: April 2010