Altona Museum

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The Altona Museum, founded in 1863, shows exhibitions on the history of art and cultural development in northern Germany.

Exhibitions in the Altona Museum

There are some permanent exhibitions in the museum and always new temporary exhibition highlights. Basically, the house presents the cultural-historical development in the Elbe region with a focus on Hamburg and especially the district of Altona. However, Schleswig-Holstein and the coastal areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea also play a major role. All collections offer a multifaceted overview of North German culture from about the 18th century onwards.

Local cultural history was strongly influenced by fishing and merchant shipping, and these themes are correspondingly strongly present in the exhibitions. The history of the media is another focus. Regional exhibits of painting and graphic art as well as arts and crafts are presented. The Altona Museum's extensive program also includes numerous special exhibitions as well as film and lecture events on topics from the 19th and 20th centuries. Families enjoy visiting the interactive children's department KINDEROLYMP. The museum also offers hands-on activities for children and special family tours.

History of the Altona Museum

The museum was founded in 1863 by the pastor Georg Schaar, the scientist Carl Christian Gottsche and the shipowner Ernst Dreyer. The first location at the Palmaille showed primarily botanical collections. The city took over the building after 1888 and expanded the exhibitions. At that time, Altona was a large city with 140,000 inhabitants, and museums were part of its self-image. For this purpose, a representative new building was erected at Kaiserplatz. The exhibitions focused on the culture of Schleswig-Holstein in deliberate distinction to Hamburg. The new concept came from the teacher Otto Lehmann, who was the museum's full-time director from 1899 to 1931 and was appointed professor in 1906.

Locations of the Altona Museum in Hamburg

The museum has four branches:

The Heine House was built as the garden house of Hamburg merchant Salomon Heine in 1835. Today it serves special exhibitions.