The Museum Wiesbaden is a two-branch museum of art and natural history in the Hessian capital of Wiesbaden, Germany. It is one of the three Hessian State museums, in addition to the museums in Kassel and Darmstadt.
History
The foundation of the originally three museums traces back to the citizens of the city and to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who stayed in Wiesbaden in 1814/1815 for a rehabilitation measure, and worked hard to establish such a cultural institution. In 1825 he persuaded the Frankfurter private collector to donate his extensive collections of works of art, antiquities and in kind to the Duchy of Nassau in return for the payment of an annuity for life.
Under the responsibility of the newly founded associations, but controlled by the ducal government, the citizens of Wiesbaden and the region were able to quickly expand these collections. Together with the pieces of the ("Association for Nassauian Antiquity and Historical Research") founded in 1812, three originally independent museums emerged. In addition to the Verein für Nassauische Altertumskunde und Geschichtsforschung the ("Nassau Society of Natural Science)" and the ("Nassau Kunstverein") (art society) were responsible for these museums.
Following the death of the Duke, the Hereditary Prince's Palace at Wilhelmstraße, built for his son, was now available for other purposes. In contrast to other cities, at a very early stage it was possible to find rooms for the cultural assets collected by the citizenry. In 1821 the three museums and the regional library of Hessen were thus able to move into the palace, which is nowadays the seat of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Wiesbaden. Around the middle of the 19th century the building became too small, due to the busy collection activities and new acquisitions. The call for a new building became louder and louder. After the three museums came under Prussian control in 1866, the city of Wiesbaden took over these institutions in 1899. This change was generally accepted because Wiesbaden had sufficient funds at the end of the 19th century to promote culture.
According to plans by architect Theodor Fischer, the foundation stone for a new building with three wings was laid at the corner of Wilhelmstraße/Rheinstraße in 1913. Previously, the banker's mansion Mons had stood there, in which the reception building of Ludwigsbahnhof was housed until 1906. The interior design of the three houses was influenced to a large extent by the three directors and the curators, as there were different needs.
The first to open was the Gemäldegalerie on 1 October 1915. In the same year the Natural Sciences Collection was also able to move into the new building, but it was not until after the end of the First World War that the Natural Sciences Museum and the Museum of Nassau Antiquities reopened on 15 July 1920.
Half of the picture gallery was to be used for changing exhibitions, which were carried out by the Nassauischer Kunstverein in the 1920s and early 1930s. During this time, citizens of Wiesbaden also contributed to important additions to the collections. The natural science collections showed systematic exhibitions on topics of geology, paleontology and biology. Ecological aspects were also presented for the first time.
During the Second World War, the building was partly used for military purposes. With few exceptions, the collections survived the war unscathed. However, the exhibitions were dismantled and most of the showcases were damaged. Only slowly the rooms were able to regain their original function after renovation. This delay had another reason: the Americans, who moved to Wiesbaden after 1945, turned the museum into a Central Collecting Point. Temporarily stored art treasures were shown, such as the bust of Nefertiti or the painting The Man with the Golden Helmet, which was attributed to Rembrandt at the time.
After their return, a collection was rebuilt from the 1950s onwards with very few resources. Clemens Weiler played a major role in the construction of the Alexej von Jawlensky-Collection, which is today the most important collection of the house. The Natural Science Museum was largely rebuilt by Friedrich Heineck, who was impeached of office during the war. It was the aim of the museum to show in particular info on the biomes in the exhibitions. The reconstruction was not entirely successful, partly because rooms were still being used by other people (e. g. by an American library and an urban archive).
