Museum of German Romanticism coming to Frankfurt
June 14, 2016
"Finally, German Romanticism will get its own museum," said Monika Grütters, Minister of State for Culture, Monday (13.06.2016) in Frankfurt. The building, providing almost 1,800 square meters (over 19,000 square feet) of exhibition space, is to be erected right next to the house in which German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in 1749.
The new museum will feature literature, art and everyday items used during the Romantic period (ca. 1790-1850), which, in Grütters' view, is one of the most significant eras in Europe's cultural and intellectual history. The culture minister added that the museum's location next to the Goethe House held particular significance, "as Germany's most famous poet of the Classicism era made peace with Romanticism as an old man."
Most of the exhibits will come from the collection of the Freies Deutsches Hochstift, which co-initiated the museum and is one of Germany's oldest cultural organizations.
Boris Rhein, Minister of Culture of the state of Hesse, said the collection was unique in the world. It includes original letters and manuscripts from artists like Novalis, Joseph von Eichendorff, Friederich Schlegel, Clemens Brentano, and Achim and Bettina von Arnim, some of which have not yet been accessible to the public. Other exhibits will be drawings, portraits and paintings.
Years of delays
The Museum of German Romanticism has been surrounded by conflict for a number of years leading up to the construction start. Like the federal government and the federal state of Hesse, the city of Frankfurt had planned to help finance the project with four million euros, but then withdrew. After private donations amounting to millions of euros poured in, the city got back on board.
The total costs for the museum has been estimated at 16 million euros ($18 million). Construction is expected to be completed in late 2018 or early 2019, and the opening ceremony is to be held in the summer of 2019.
rk/sw/ad/kbm (epd, dpa)