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Bonn. The hanging game surrounding the preservation of the Deutsches Museum in Bonn is over for the time being. However, financing via a three-pillar model is still facing a test.
By Philip Koenigs, 29. 12. 2017


During the Advent season, the Deutsches Museum opened a Lego exhibition with 600 models that have been on the market since the 1960s. A history of change. This show fits like a fist to the latest development of the house on Ahrstrasse. After all, the staff around director Andrea Niehaus had to put an enormous amount of energy into preparing the museum for a future that was uncertain for a long time.

In 2015, the city council decided to significantly reduce the previous subsidy of around 830,000 euros. The contractual agreement with the Deutsches Museum in Munich dates from capital times, in which the city was financially better positioned than it is at present. Only the costs for covering employee salaries of about 250 Euro should continue to flow. This had been so contractually fixed with the people of Munich at the time. So the museum was on the verge of closure. After the city subsequently terminated the contract with the parent company on January 31, 2018, the pressure increased. So there was not much time left to avert the impending closure. The staff went on the barricades and protested before committee and council meetings against the radical cancellation of the funds.


How could and should it continue? To stay in the image of the Lego worlds: The stones on which the museum was built had to be completely rearranged. Above all, it required new financiers. The "Wissen schaf(f)t Spaß" sponsorship association was founded in a hurry, to which companies and private individuals such as TV journalist Ranga Jogeshwar joined. The main idea was to develop a new sustainable concept for the future.

Important cornerstone: Low-threshold offers for the MINT subjects mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology. The industry in Bonn and the surrounding area already does not fill many positions for skilled workers with these orientations. The concept focuses on environmental and climate research, biochemistry and genetics as well as a student laboratory on the subject of materials sciences in the Transrapid. In cooperation with the Bundeskunsthalle, the museum presented the special exhibition Weather Report at the suggestion of the UN Climate Secretariat. It can be seen there until 4 March next year.


A newly conceived unit for environmental and climate research will be set up in the exhibition area "Between Heaven and Hell" in 2018. "As a result, the Deutsches Museum Bonn is placing sustainability, the central topic of the present and the future for the Bonn location, at the centre of museum activities to an even greater extent and more visibly than before," explains museum director Niehaus.

The Deutsches Museum relies on three pillars for future financing. 600,000 euros per year from the public sector are required for basic insurance. The city will initially provide 400,000 euros annually. The Rhein-Sieg district fills the gap with 75,000 euros per year (probably for five years), the district of Ahrweiler with a five-digit amount. More or less at the last minute, the Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation took over the remaining amount.

The further 600,000 euros needed to maintain the Deutsches Museum come from project funds, from the association and from the entrance fees and the sale of marketing products and science books in the museum's own shop. At the moment, the director of the museum has to get used to thinking from year to year about the financial basis.

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 12/29/2017 Publication: General-Anzeiger-Bonn Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: regional News Category: Arts/Culture

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