Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig

Treasure chest and Laboratory

The central repository is the core of the Neubau. It covers 1900 square metres on 5 storeys and offers the appropriate space for the extensive collection holdings of the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum for the first time. The modern standards and appropriate conditions for conservation ensure that the collections can be maintained and preserved. Material from the museum library and photograph collection is available to visitors for reference work in the new reading room.

Moreover, because the Neubau houses the museum’s holdings in the same building as the central documentation department as well as the workshops and offices of the museum’s research staff, the museum’s work can be more easily and efficiently organised. This means, for example, that an object does not have to be transported from one building to another in order to be worked on, as used to be the case.

Since 1998, the museum’s diverse object holdings have been being recorded in computer-based documentation. 220 000 objects have been registered in the database so far, and digital photos of the objects have been added to many of the corresponding digital index cards. The data of the holdings is intended to be completed by 2009 and will be made available for scientific research. Setting up a central repository brings the museum much closer to this goal.

Among the classical functions of a museum – collecting, preserving, exploring and communicating cultural heritage – the educational work of the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum is becoming increasingly important. The Neubau as a laboratory offers new scope for such educational activities. In addition, the modern, two-storey exhibition space extends the range of presentation possibilities for the visitor’s programme: the gallery of the exhibition room can be used alternately as a room for study, events or activities.