Schwules Museum

Coordinates: 52°29′27″N 13°23′16″E / 52.49083°N 13.38778°E / 52.49083; 13.38778
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Schwules Museum, 2016
Schwules Museum
Schwules Museum
Schwules Museum
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Schwules Museum, Berlin

The Schwules Museum (English: Gay Museum) in Berlin, Germany, is a museum and research centre with collections focusing on LGBTQ+ history and culture. It opened in 1985 and it was the first museum in the world dedicated to gay history.[1]

The museum archive holds periodicals dating from 1896 and a collection of photographs, videos, films, sound recordings, autographs, art works, and ephemera. Its library holds approximately 20,000 books on homosexuality.

Location

Museums shop in the Schwules Museum, 2015
Café in the Schwules Museum, 2015

The museum was first located at

Berlin-Mitte, more than doubling its exhibition space.[2]

History and mission

The impetus for the founding of the Schwules Museum was a successful exhibition on gay topics at the Berlin Märkisches Museum in summer 1984, called "Eldorado - Homosexual Women and Men in Berlin 1850-1950". It was the first public exhibition shown in Germany of recent research on gay life. In 1985 the Verein der Freunde eines Schwulen Museums in Berlin e.V. (Society of Friends of a Gay Museum in Berlin) was founded and opened its own museum dedicated exclusively to LGBTQ+ topics at Mehringdamm 61 in the district of Kreuzberg.[3] The building acquired the nickname Homo-Hof ("the gay courtyard") because it also housed the gay nightclub SchwuZ, a gay-friendly café and the Allgemeine Homosexuelle Arbeitsgemeinschaft [de], a support group which campaigns for LGBTQ+ rights.[4]

In December 2009, the museum received its first allocation of public money, a two-year grant from the cultural funds of the

male homosexuality, mainly to put more emphasis on lesbian and transgender people.[6]

Exhibitions

The museum shows several temporary exhibitions every year. These include historical exhibitions illuminating particular periods or historical developments, such as:

From December 2004 to May 2013, there was a permanent exhibition called Selbstbewusstsein und Beharrlichkeit. 200 Jahre schwule Geschichte ("Self-Awareness and Endurance: 200 Years of Gay History"). It covers period 1790 to 1990, showing how gay people met up with each other and organised networks, and depicted the strategies, options and problems of gay people in seeking to live a self-determined life. In association with this theme, the social and legal background was presented, such as the anti-gay

LGBT social movements.[8]

The museum also holds series of exhibitions on individuals, groups and organisations, such as Der Kreis ("The Circle") and Gesellschaft für Reform des Sexualrechts ("Society for the Reform of Sexual Law"). A continuing series of homages to LGBT people in public life has included Oscar Wilde, Marlene Dietrich, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Michel Foucault and Thomas Mann.

Bibliography

  • Bollé, Michael (ed.) (1984) Eldorado: Homosexuelle Frauen und Männer in Berlin, 1850–1950: Geschichte, Alltag und Kultur. Berlin: Frölich und Kaufmann, 1984.
    ISBN 3-89468-032-6
    .

See also

References

  1. ^ Sara Richards (17 February 2010). "Berlin's Schwules Museum, Exploring The Past And Present". NPR blogs. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
  2. ^ Ingeborg Wiensowski (16 July 2013). "Zarte Fußballer und Frauen mit Bart" [Tender footballers and women with beards]. Der Spiegel (in German).
  3. ^ "Schwules Museum - Freunde eines Schwulen Museums e.V." Die Tageszeitung (in German).
  4. ^ AHA Berlin.Geschichte.Ein Blick zurück–Die Geschichte der AHA. Retrieved 28 January 2019
  5. ^ "Senatsgeld für das Schwule Museum" [Public funds for the Schwule Museum]. Siegessäule (in German). 15 December 2009. Archived from the original on 17 November 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
  6. ^ "Berlin: Das Schwule Museum wird immer lesbischer" [Berlin: The Gay Museum is becoming more and more lesbian]. lesben.org. 29 May 2009. Archived from the original on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
  7. Deutsches Historisches Museum
    . 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  8. ^ "Selbstbewusstsein und Beharrlichkeit — 200 Jahre schwule Geschichte: Die ständige Ausstellung des Schwulen Museums". gay-web.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2009-04-21.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Schwules Museum.

52°29′27″N 13°23′16″E / 52.49083°N 13.38778°E / 52.49083; 13.38778

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