In the Beginning was the Belt at the Municipal Museum of Braunschweig: An Exhibition with Attitude
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An exhibition that reinterprets colonial collections
At the Municipal Museum of Braunschweig, the permanent exhibition In the Beginning was the Belt – Braunschweig Ethnographica, Souvenirs & Colonial Trophies offers a view into objects, provenance, and power dynamics. The artistic experience combines cultural-historical research with a dense exhibition atmosphere and leads directly into the questions that ethnological collections raise today.
Objects as testimonies of a controversial history
The presentation focuses on items from colonial contexts and makes visible how strongly museum collections are shaped by appropriation, exchange, memory, and interpretation. Particularly striking is the focus on the cartridge belt of the Kahimemua from present-day Namibia, whose history becomes the starting point for a critical examination of the work. Thus, an exhibition emerges that not only shows but also questions.
Curatorial perspective and cultural education
The curation follows a dialogical approach, linking provenance research, historical contextualization, and cultural education. Visitors encounter ethnography not as a closed narrative but as a vibrant field of research. This transforms the exhibition into a place of aesthetic experience and simultaneously a learning space about colonial history, collection practices, and museum responsibility.
The museum as a place of reflection
The Municipal Museum of Braunschweig is one of the most significant municipal cultural history museums in Germany, preserving over 270,000 objects. In the house at Löwenwall, an Art Nouveau building with bright, airy spaces and historic ambiance, the exhibition unfolds its special effect. Architecture, light, and object presentation enhance the calm, contemplative mood of the tour.
Guided tours, visiting and mediation
The museum offers public tours, educational programs, and family-oriented mediation formats. The exhibition is suitable for anyone interested in art history, museum education, memory culture, and the critical reassessment of ethnological collections. Admission is free, which further opens access to this important cultural-political topic.
Visitor feedback
On Instagram, it shows how strongly the museum is perceived through its active mediation work: The exhibition is described as stimulating, carefully researched, and socially relevant. The response underscores that here not only objects are exhibited but questions are raised that resonate beyond the museum visit.
Conclusion: This exhibition combines historical depth with current relevance and makes colonial collections impressively readable. Anyone interested in art, history, and critical museum culture should definitely visit this artistic experience live at the Municipal Museum of Braunschweig.
Official channels of the Municipal Museum of Braunschweig:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/staedtischesmuseumbraunschweig/
- Facebook: no official profile found
- YouTube: no official profile found
- Website: https://www.braunschweig.de/kultur/museen/staedtisches-museum/
