Kempten - Out of the Alpine Museum, into the new depot is the next time for many thousands of paintings, fossils and other exhibits stored there.
It is slowly getting quiet around the Alpine Museum in the Marstall building. The gates will be closed on December 31, 2021 and the exhibition "Shining Middle Ages" will also be opened, according to museum director Dr. Christine Müller Horn in the course of the coming year "in the course of the collection of the exhibits" that were presented there from the collection of the Bavarian National Museum - or. at the moment are still -, dismantled. “From 2023, the stables could be structurally upgraded in preparation for a potential state exhibition and a conversion into an Allgäu museum in terms of accessibility”, as it says on the website.
First, however, the Marstall building must serve as an interim storage facility for the 1,300 paintings that are currently still being kept in the depot in Messerschmittstrasse.
"It was clear that the storage could only be here" until the optimum climate was set in the new depot (as reported, completion was delayed by a few months), according to Müller Horn.
As far as climate and security are concerned, “the conditions are perfect here”, which is why she is visibly pleased with this interim solution.
Elaborate preparatory work
On the top floor, restorer Monika Lingg has been sifting through, sorting, inventorying and packing items in the collections for months. To do this, she and her manageable team of helpers must 1. measure each piece (readjust a lot for the first time or readjust incorrect information), 2. find out where it comes from (whether from a gift, a purchase or who was the previous owner), 3. take photos, 4. with an inventory number and, if necessary, sub-numbers (troubleshooting is very time-consuming in the case of numbers that were accidentally assigned twice in the past) and finally record everything in a database.
According to Lingg, inventorying in particular is a huge waste of time.
Often there is no information at all or only such as "Fire engine 500 marks", without a time or place assignment, etc. After all, there is always something to smile about, such as the "flying turkey" instead of "flying putti".
In principle, Lingg welcomes digitization, "but it also has to be constantly maintained", which in turn costs time.
At the same time, Müller Horn definitely wants to keep the paper version, which "is still the safest option for me", she fears possible data loss.
There is a lack of staff
In view of the tight staffing levels, she has mixed feelings about the growing tasks. “Normally, the inventory is one of the core tasks of a museum”, but here it is “only done with freelancers”, as she says. The original 50 percent position of restorer Lingg has been increased at least for the depot move until 2024. The position of scientific employee in the cultural office has not been filled “for years”, “but the tasks are not getting any less,” says Müller Horn, mentioning the Archaeological Park, taking care of the inventory or permanent exhibitions. “The basic tasks of a museum with holdings” are numerous, but “not effective for the public”.
You only really become aware of the time-consuming work at the point of action between countless boxes and boxes as well as objects that have yet to be assigned, and not just because of the often fragmented or incorrectly sorted objects.
Also because the inventory lists and origins of the exhibits or the receipt of the items were not taken so seriously in the past.
A failure that is now taking revenge through considerable extra work.
Small animals on needles
“Here are also the insensitive things from the Zumsteinhaus,” says museum director Müller Horn, referring to books, stones, etc., “which the geological working group has now sorted,” and the relevant literature is currently being cataloged. "We have given parts of the biological collection" insofar as they could not be used for a nature exhibition on the Allgäu natural area, "such as certain bird preparations. Advice was received from the taxidermist at the Natural History Museum in Nuremberg, who, for example, received all small animals “that are stuck on needles”. The animal preparations have all been “spruced up” and “are now waiting to be exhibited,” says a delighted Müller Horn.
Lingg also had to show a steady hand when restoring objects from the “Ice Age collection with a lot of organic material”.
On the “little stones on stones”, antlers etc. “a lot was already very brittle” and had to be stabilized and visually adjusted, she explains.
Good cooperation
In addition to the objects already in the museum depot, around 3,000 folders with, among other things, several pictures, newspaper clippings and photos by Allgäu artists from the city archive are waiting to be added to the museum depot.
These too have to be "unraveled" beforehand by Lingg.
In general, they are in constant contact with the city archive.
"When you see that there is something in the archive that belongs in the museum, we swap" and vice versa, says Müller Horn, welcoming the good cooperation.
In order to say goodbye to the museum, a colorful supporting program for the whole family will be offered on the weekend of December 4th and 5th: selected guided tours, a scenic reading, theater and two open workshops on fossils and gilding.