Mine in the Deutsches Museum closes forever: Bitter and sad
Munich – Once an American couple expects how they managed to build a museum directly above a mine. Andreas Gundelwein, curator of the mine exhibition in the Deutsches Museum, tells this anecdote with a smile.
Even if the exhibition is largely 100 years old – everything is of course not real and original. But the museum mine has vividly conveyed to generations of Munich residents and millions of visitors what it used to be like to create things underground.
The mine is iconic. Every third visitor to the Deutsches Museum is immersed in the narrow, gloomy and depressing world that leads down to a depth of twelve metres. It is probably this mixture of horror, wonder and admiration for the miners that so many visitors die.
The exhibition will close in four weeks. The first phase of the general refurbishment on the Museum Island has been completed, and now it is the turn of the second. This means that even behind the rocks in the mine, which were largely reconstructed from wire mesh and plaster, must be renovated: the old house needs new ventilation technology, pipes, cables and a sprinkler system. In addition, the masonry, which has become moldy due to previous flooding on the Isar, has to be drained.
Gundelwein: “We have no money. We need ten million euros”
“It’s sad and bitter that we won’t be able to show a mine for at least ten years,” says Gundelwein. “It’s even more bitter: we don’t know if and when it will come back. We have no money. We need ten million euros.” It would be by far the most exhibition in the house. In second place is physics, which costs five million.
Even if there is a major donor finds 1:1 the mine will not return. There are several reasons for this: “The technology has developed further. Unfortunately, some things are not correct,” says Andreas Gundelwein. He also has a lot to complain about in the scenes.
“If we’re going to spend a lot of money, we’d like to do it right”
For example on the simulated rock: traces that the hammer and chisel should have left there or boreholes – missing in many places. “As a viewer, you ask yourself how the cavities came about,” criticizes the curator.
However, faulty backdrops were also listed as historical monuments. Gundelwein considers it fundamentally wrong to take a lot of effort to expand them and keep them in depots for years. “If we’re going to spend a lot of money, we’d like to do it right,” he says.
Gundelwein: “The 5,000 exhibits are sacred to us”
One thing is certain: if a new mine comes along, it would have less space available than the 3,500 square meters it used to have. “After the renovation it will be ten percent less because we have to install escape tunnels and stairwells,” says Gundelwein.
From June 29, the mine will be expanded piece by piece, 16 months are scheduled for this. The replicas of miners like the Stürzer, machines, lorries, chisels – everything disappears into boxes. “The 5,000 exhibits are sacred to us,” says Gundelwein. “It’s cultural property. There’s no question that we keep it for posterity.” The question is: when will they be allowed out of their crates again?
Renovation: The lightning show is also closing
A second long-term crowd puller in the Deutsches Museum is the heavy current department with its demonstrations, in which there are flashes and bangs – and yet nothing happens to the person in the Faraday cage.
This department will also be closed in four weeks. The good news: The financing is secured here. When the second half of the museum is expected to be completed in 2028, this exhibition will open again in a modernized way – again with live demonstrations, but with more noise protection.
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