Museum
About the museum
Since the early 1950s, the German-Baltic Cultural Association has been collecting not only archives and books but also “tangible cultural artifacts” and has thus not only been able to protect valuable objects from loss but also make them accessible to the public by cataloging and presenting them.
Over the decades, numerous Baltic Germans have donated museum objects to the Association. In addition, the Association acquired objects by purchase, partly with its own funds and often with financial support from foundations and the relevant ministries.
In addition to smaller exhibitions of its own, the museum objects are mainly exhibited in the Baltic German section of the East Prussian Museum in Lüneburg.
Exhibition at the East Prussian Museum in Lüneburg
As a showcase of German-Baltic cultural history, the German-Baltic Department presents the history of Livonia in the Middle Ages and modern times, the Hanseatic League in the Baltic region, the Order, the Church and the knighthoods, as well as their significance for the Baltic countries in 29 chapters. It contrasts the everyday culture and possessions of the German-Baltic nobility with the peasant life of Estonians and Latvians. Visitors also gain insights into the cities with their merchants, artists and the University of Dorpat, as well as the services and careers of the German Balts in Sweden and the Russian Empire. The situation of the German Balts as a minority after the founding of independent Baltic states in 1918 until their so-called resettlement in 1939 rounds off the picture.
~ Curator of the German Baltic Department Dr Eike Eckert, 2019
News
Donate tangible cultural artifacts
If you would like to help expand and secure the collection of German-Baltic provenance, please contact the German-Baltic Cultural Foundation (DKS) at dks@deutsch-balten.de. Your cultural property will remain permanently in German-Baltic hands; the DKS has guaranteed the East Prussian State Museum the right to use all objects.
You can find more information on the donation of tangible cultural assets to the DKS here.