The Lower Saxon State Museum Hanover (german: Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum Hannover, italics=unset, or simply ) is the state museum of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Situated adjacent to the New Town Hall, the museum comprises the state gallery (), featuring paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, and departments of

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

, natural history and

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

. The museum includes a

vivarium A vivarium (Latin, literally for "place of life"; plural: ''vivaria'' or ''vivariums'') is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Water-based vivaria may have open tops providing they a ...

with fish, amphibians, reptiles and

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

History

Originally the Museum of Art and Science () inaugurated in 1856 in the presence of George V of Hanover based in the present-day Hanover Arthouse (), it was later renamed Museum of the Province of Hanover, or simply Provincial Museum. The museum soon ran out of space for its art collections, prompting the construction of the current building, designed by Hubert Stier in a

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

style, on the edge of the Maschpark in 1902. The building's

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

, titled "Key Moments in the Evolution of Humanity" (), was created by the Hanoverian artist Georg Herting in partnership with Karl Gundelach and Georg Küsthardt. It was renamed the State Museum in 1933, and finally the Lower Saxon State Museum of Hanover in 1950. The museum building suffered extensive damage from aerial bombings of Hanover during World War II. During the air raid on Hanover on the night beginning 8 October 1943, the

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

above the central

risalit An ''avant-corps'' ( it, avancorpo or , plural , german: Risalit, pl, ryzalit), a French term literally meaning "fore-body", is a part of a building, such as a porch or pavilion, that juts out from the ''corps de logis'', often taller than othe ...

was destroyed and the second floor burnt out. However, most of the museum contents had been evacuated by then and were spared destruction. After the war ended in 1945, the museum reopened with an exhibition in the

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...

of the

Herrenhausen Gardens The Herrenhausen Gardens (german: Herrenhäuser Gärten, ) of Herrenhausen Palace, located in Herrenhausen, an urban district of Lower Saxony's capital of Hanover are made up of the Great Garden (), the Berggarten, the Georgengarten and th ...

, and starting in 1947 with small exhibitions in smaller museum buildings. While renovations of the main museum building continued into the 1960s, permanent exhibitions began to reopen between 1950 and 1956. Extensive renovations and modernisations were carried out in the interior from 1995 to 2000, reopening on 13 May 2000 as part of

Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were expe ...

Collections

State gallery

The state gallery features art from the 11th to the 20th centuries. The collection includes German and Italian works from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

and the Baroque, 17th-century Flemish and Dutch paintings, Danish paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries (such as by

Constantin Hansen Carl Christian Constantin Hansen (Constantin Hansen) (3 November 1804 – 29 March 1880) was one of the painters associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting. He was deeply interested in literature and mythology, and inspired by art hist ...

), and a

print room A print room is a room in an art gallery or museum where a collection of old master and modern prints, usually together with drawings, watercolours, and photographs, are held and viewed. A further meaning is a room decorated by pasting prints ...

featuring old German masters, Dutch drawings, 19th-century print works, and drawings by German

impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

. Some of the best-known artists include Rembrandt, Rubens and Albrecht Dürer. The gallery's other strengths include German and French Impressionist paintings, works by

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

Lovis Corinth Lovis Corinth (21 July 1858 – 17 July 1925) was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Corinth studied in Paris and Munich, joined the Berlin Sec ...

and

Max Slevogt Max Slevogt (8 October 1868 – 20 September 1932) was a German Impressionist painter and illustrator, best known for his landscapes. He was, together with Lovis Corinth and Max Liebermann, one of the foremost representatives in Germany of t ...

, and major works from members of the group, such as

Bernhard Hoetger Bernhard Hoetger (4 May 1874 in Dortmund – 18 July 1949 in Interlaken) was a German sculptor, painter and handicrafts artist of the Expressionist movement. Life Hoetger was the son of a Dortmund blacksmith, he studied sculpture in Detmold f ...

, Fritz Overbeck, Otto Modersohn and

Paula Modersohn-Becker Paula Modersohn-Becker (8 February 1876 – 20 November 1907) was a German Expressionist painter of the late 19th and early 20th century. Her work is noted for its intensity and its blunt, unapologetic humanity, and for the many self-portraits th ...

. Caspar David Friedrich's four-piece (Times of Day) is the only complete such series by Friedrich in a single museum.

Natural history

The natural history department features a life-sized model of a dinosaur, and a

with more than 2,000 native and exotic fish, amphibians and reptiles. The model dinosaur, an

iguanodon ''Iguanodon'' ( ; meaning ' iguana-tooth'), named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species have been classified in the genus ''Iguanodon'', dating from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period of Asia, ...

, is not an accurate reconstruction by the standards of modern palaeontology, but has been integrated into an exhibition which shows the changing reconstructions of this species over time. The department also has zoological, botanical, anthropological, geographical and geological exhibits on the primeval history of Lower Saxony's regions, including the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

mountains, the heathlands, and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

coast.

Archaeology

The museum has a major archaeological collection, containing some unique finds. With over a million artifacts showing the economic and technological development of human settlement, the display covers almost 500,000 years of history, spanning the

early Stone Age The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears in t ...

to the late Middle Ages, from the early hunter-gatherer cultures to the blossoming of metropolitan life. The archaeology department is supported by the Lower Saxon State Society of Prehistory (), and its working group .

Ethnology

The ethnological collection is among the oldest in the German-speaking area of Europe (), and includes around 20,000 artworks and everyday artefacts from all parts of the world. A wide range of religions and cultures in America, Africa, Oceania and Asia is displayed through the findings of explorers and ethnologists.

Special exhibitions and facilities

The museum regularly hosts temporary exhibitions on changing themes, and its

pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range ...

facility (a nitrogen chamber) suitable for artworks and artefacts is available for use by the public.Effektive Schädlingsbekämpfung an Kunst- und Kulturgütern
About the nitrogen chamber.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Museums in Hanover Art museums and galleries in Germany History of Lower Saxony Culture of Lower Saxony Museums established in 1856 Natural history museums in Germany Archaeological museums in Germany Ethnographic museums in Germany 1856 establishments in the Kingdom of Hanover