Sorbian Museum

The Sorbian Museum, Upper Sorbian: Serbski muzejⓘ, German: Sorbisches Museum, is hosted in the salthouse of the Ortenburg, Bautzen. It houses approximately 35.000 inventarized objects making it the most important museum of Sorbian culture and history.[1]

Sorbian Museum
Serbski Muzej/Sorbisches Museum
Established1988
LocationOrtenburg, Bautzen, Germany
DirectorChristina Bogusz
OwnerDistrict of Bautzen
Websitehttps://sorbisches-museum.de/

History

The Maćica Serbska included the establishment of a Sorbian museum in their agend in 1856. It the first institution to collect ethnological and historical objects connected to the Sorbs.[2]

For a 1896 exhibition of Saxonian arts and crafts in Dresden, exhibits were collected and presented by Sorbian institutions in the so-called Wendish village. When the Serbski dom was inaugurated in 1904, the Sorbian museum was opened simultaneously on the third floor. The closure of the Serbski dom by the Nazi government in 1937 put an end to the first Sorbian museum.[3] In 1942, its collection was included in the municipal museum of Bautzen.[2]

In the Democratic Republic of Germany, a museum of Sorbian history and ethnology was founded in 1957 in Hoyerswerda.[1] As ojects of the former Wendish Museum kept being restituted, the museum moved to Bautzen due to a shortage of space. The salthouse of the Ortenburg in Bautzen was chosen as the new seat of the Sorbian Museum, since the original building was destroyed in 1945 an the Serbski dom, its replacement, was not built to include the museum.[3] It became part of the municipal museums of Bautzen. In 1988, the exhibition was redesinged and the Sorbian museum reopend as an independent institution.[1]

Location at the salthouse
The former salthouse of Ortenburg Castle, Bautzen, accommodates the Sorbian museum

The building currently accommodating the museum was built in 1782 as a salthouse and was restructured in 1869 providing its present from. Since 1835 it was the seat of the Royal Saxonian Court of Appeals, the highes judicial institution in Lusatia. During the time of Nazi Germany, it hosted the Gestapo[4][5] and became a residential building in the German Democratic Republic.[5] After the original location, the Serbski dom, was destroyed in 1945, the salthouse was determined to be a worthy accommodation for the Sorbian museum in 1976[6] in despite it not having a connection to the Sorbian people and its Gestapo history. The salthouse was restored in 2003.[4]

Exhibitions
Painted cupboard from of the collection of the museum

The exhibition provides information on Sorbian history and culture in Lusatia. Its main focus lies on the Sorbian language, literature and art.[3][7]

References
  1. Bruck, Gisela. "Sorbisches Museum". Sorabicon (in German). Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  2. Paulik, Andrea. "Wendisches Museum Bautzen". Sorabicon (in German). Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  3. "Sorbisches Museum Bautzen / Serbski Muzej Budyšin". Union of Saxonian Museums (in German). Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  4. "Bautzener Geschichtspfad" [A guide to historical buildings in Bautzen]. City of Bautzen (in German). Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  5. Kämpfe, Christa. "Geschichte Ortenburg" [History of the Ortenburg]. Free State of Saxony (in German). Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  6. Schönbach, Miriam (10 December 2020). "Bautzen: Alte Posthalterei wechselt den Besitzer" [Bautzen: Old postal office changes owner]. Sächsische Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  7. Gaeding, Eva (28 July 2023). "Ausstellung in Bautzen fragt nach sorbischer Identität heute und morgen" [Exhibition in Bautzen deals with Sorbian identity in the present and its future]. Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (in German). Retrieved 9 October 2023.

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