The (Hamburg Archaeological Museum; formerly the ') is an archaeological

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

in the Harburg borough of Hamburg, Germany. It houses the archaeological finds of the city of Hamburg and the neighbouring counties to the south of the city. It focuses on northern German prehistory and early history as well as the history of the former city of Harburg. The museum is also home to the cultural heritage landmarks commission of the city of Hamburg and the adjacent district of Harburg in Lower-Saxony and thus supervises all archaeological undertakings in the region. The museum has two major exhibition spaces. The future City Museum of Harburg, temporary exhibitions, the library, offices and small storage facilities are located in the main building, which is shared with the Harburger Theater at . The permanent archaeological exhibition and education facilities are located nearby, at . In addition, the Museum maintains as external branches the exhibition area of the 12th-century (Bishop's Tower) in Hamburg's old town, the archaeological trail at and the 8th-century hillfort of Hollenstedt.

Exhibition

With more than 2.5 million objects, the museum holds the largest collection of prehistoric finds. On exhibit are mostly local examples of the Paleolithic and

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

eras, the Bronze and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

s, the Migration Period and the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

in northern Germany. In 2009, the newly designed permanent archaeological exhibition opened. It is structured in the following subject areas: materials, food, violence, death, innovation and mobility. In more than 160 glass display cases, models and large exhibit items represent all aspects of human cultural development over the last 40,000 years. In addition, installations on cultural heritage landmarks, the archaeology of Hamburg, and methods of collection and preservation provide information about the work of the museum and archaeologists. Some of the notable exhibits are the Duvensee paddle (one of the oldest surviving paddles), the

Metzendorf-Woxdorf head burial The Metzendorf-Woxdorf head of burial is the Neolithic burial of a single human skull that was found in 1958 in the Seevetal district of Woxdorf, in Harburg, in Lower Saxony. The find is currently the only one of its kind of the Single Grave Cult ...

, the Bronze Age

Daensen folding chair The Daensen folding chair consists of the metallic remains of a folding chair which were discovered in 1899 in sand from a Bronze Age tumulus near Daensen, a part of Buxtehude, Lower Saxony, Germany. The chair is the southernmost and most richly d ...

, the Ovelgönne Bread Roll, the Saxon Wulfsen horse burial, the Tangendorf disc brooch, a section of the Wittmoor Bog Trackway and the Maschen disc brooch. A second permanent exhibition on the local history of the Harburg borough is due to be opened in the near future.

History

The museum's foundation was initiated in 1898 by the Hamburg Senator August Helms, who was joined by other public figures in a museum association. Their aim was to create a museum for the then independent

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

n city of Harburg (Elbe) and their county. In 1925, the founder's sons deeded the museum a prestigious villa in to use as an exhibition hall, and the museum was renamed ''Helms-Museum''. By that time, the collection already had more than 50,000 catalogued objects. In 1937, the Helms-Museum became a public institution. In 1955, the Museum left the villa, which had been damaged by a bomb in World War II, and moved to a new main building next to the Harburger Theater. In 1953, Director Willi Wegewitz initiated the open-air . In 1972, the Helms-Museum became Hamburg's only archaeological museum, and all archaeological holdings at other Hamburg museums were transferred to it. Since 1987, the museum has been entrusted with the preservation of cultural heritage landmarks. For space reasons, the archaeological permanent exhibition was moved to its present location at . A third exhibition area was maintained from 1990 to 1999 at the old Harburg Fire Station. On 1 January 2008, the ownership of the Helms-Museum transferred to the (Foundation of Hamburg Historical Museums), and it was renamed '. On 14 May 2009 the newly designed permanent archaeological exhibition was opened.

Visitors

The museum participates in the '' Long Night of Museums of Hamburg'', and offers a variety of educational programs for children and school classes. Since 15 November 2012 the Museum has provided an interactive electronic museum guide as an iTunes mobile app, also available for Android operating systems.https://plus.google.com/112946114730381657998/posts?hl=en

Literature

References

External links