The Grassi Museum is a building complex in Leipzig, home to three museums: the Ethnography Museum, Musical Instruments Museum, and Applied Arts Museum.
It is sometimes known as the "Museums in the Grassi", or as the "New" Grassi Museum (to distinguish it from the older building with this name, now home to the municipal library).
The museum is named after Franz Dominic Grassi, a Leipzig businessman of Italian descent, who bequeathed over two million marks to the city upon his death in 1880. [1] This helped pay for a number of new constructions, including the Gewandhaus and the Mende Fountain, as well as the "Old Grassi Museum". Built from 1892-95 on the Königsplatz (now Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz), this originally housed the Museum of Ethnography and the Museum of Arts and Crafts, and is now the municipal library.
The old museum became too small for the collections, prompting its director to call for an architecture competition to design a new building, to be paid for with the Grassi bequest. The winning firm designed a building with elements of New Objectivity and Art Deco, based around several courtyards. It was built from 1925-29 (one of the few new museums of the Weimar Era), on the site of the old Johannis Hospital. The urban planner Hubert Ritter had intended for it to be the starting point of an eastward expansion of the city. It contained originally the Johannis Church, demolished in 1963. [2]
The New Grassi Museum was severely bombed in 1943, [2] with the loss of tens of thousands of items. Rebuilding began in 1947, with the first exhibitions in 1954. It was closed from 1981-85 due to a problem with the heating system. [3] It was completely renovated from 2001-05, including the removal of some of the front windows. It reopened partly in 2005, though the Museum of Applied Arts did not reopen until 2007. [2]
It is a historically preserved building, and is one of around 20 so-called "Cultural Lighthouses" in the German government's Blue Book of culturally significant sites in the former East Germany. As such, it is a member of the Konferenz Nationaler Kultureinrichtungen. [4]
The Grassi Museum hosts an annual trade fair in October, the Grassimesse, whose origins go back to 1920. [2]
Coordinates: 51°20′15″N12°23′18″E / 51.33750°N 12.38833°E
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The Leipzig Museum of Ethnography is a large ethnographic museum in Leipzig, Germany, also known as the Grassi Museum of Ethnology. Today it is part of the Grassi Museum, an institution which also includes the Museum of Applied Arts and the Museum of Musical Instruments, based in a large building on the Johannisplatz.
The Museum of Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig is a museum in Leipzig, Germany. It is located on Johannisplatz, near the city centre. The museum belongs to the University of Leipzig and is also part of the Grassi Museum, whose other members are the Museum of Ethnography and the Museum of Applied Arts.
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The Museum of Applied Arts is a museum in Leipzig, Germany. It is the second oldest museum of decorative arts in the country, founded just six years after the Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin. Today it is part of the Grassi Museum, an institution which also includes the Museum of Ethnography and the Museum of Musical Instruments, based in a large building on the Johannisplatz.
The following is a timeline of the history of the German city of Leipzig.
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The Kulturpalast Dresden is a modernist building built by Wolfgang Hänsch during the era of the German Democratic Republic. It was the largest multi-purpose hall in Dresden when it opened in 1969, and was used for concerts, dances, conferences and other events. The building underwent several years of reconstruction beginning in 2012 and opened with a new concert hall in April 2017.
Richard Graul was a German art historian and museum curator.
Volker Staab is a German architect.
Pundt & Kohn OHG was a German timber import and wood processing company. It was founded in 1862 by F. J. S. Kohn in Geestemünde. Until it was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944, it was one of the oldest and most important companies in its branch on the lower Weser. The company was dissolved in the third generation in 1967 after the death of its last owner, Hans Kohnert.
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