The Alsatian Museum of the city of Strasbourg is a museum of
popular arts and traditions, presenting testimonies of traditional
Alsatian life from the 17th to the 20th century: housing, furniture,
everyday objects, ceramics, costumes, religious objects, toys,
crafts . They are presented for the most part in reconstructions of
interiors and craftsmen's workshops. The Alsatian Museum has been
the depository since the beginning of an important collection
entrusted by the Historical Society of the Israelites of Alsace and
Lorraine making it possible to present, in association with the
collections owned by the museum, the cultural heritage of the Jews
of 'Alsace.
Developing 1,600 m2 of exhibition rooms, it is
located on the banks of the Ill, at nos 23-25 quai Saint-Nicolas,
near the Place du Corbeau, in a building listed as a historical
monument.
23 quai St-Nicolas
Tel. 03 88 52 50 00
Open: Wed- Mon
Closed: Jan 1, Good Fri, May 1, Nov 1, Dec 25
While Alsace and part of Lorraine found themselves annexed to the
German Empire (1871-1918), certain artists and writers attached to
Alsatian culture decided, at the instigation of the artist Charles
Spindler, to found 1898 the Revue alsacienne illustrée. This magazine
contains articles on the heritage and culture of the region,
descriptions of emblematic places, typical objects, writings in dialect,
illustrated by Alsatian artists. It was in the publication of April 1900
that mention was made for the first time of the project to create an
"Alsatian ethnographic museum".
On November 3, 1902, in the study
of master Alfred Ritleng in Strasbourg, the founding general assembly
took place. It reads the deed of incorporation of the company of the
future museum. Among the founders, Dr Pierre Bucher, Dr Ferdinand
Dollinger and his brother Léon Dollinger, Anselme Laugel, Fritz Kiener,
archaeologist Robert Forrer and Dr Auguste Kassel. The artist Charles
Spindler, absent from the meeting, offered the Society in formation a
series of original watercolors of the illustrations from his book
Costumes and customs of Alsace published in 1902 with Anselme Laugel, in
exchange for a share of five hundred marks. These are the first
acquisitions of the future museum. Georges Ritleng, director of the
School of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg, is appointed honorary
president. The museum company, which emerged from the editorial board of
the Revue alsacienne illustrée, had a capital of 50,000 gold francs in
1907 and in 1904 acquired ownership of a building at 23 quai
Saint-Nicolas, chosen for its cachet and its position. close to the city
center.
The museum opened its doors to the public on May 11,
1907. On this occasion, a large peasant fair was organized on May 29, 30
and 31, 1907 for the benefit of the "Holiday Colonies". The ladies of
good society have donned traditional Alsatian peasant costumes and the
museum is decorated and laid out in imitation of village fairs. The
sales counters, very decorated, offer typical articles and food. The
wives of the members organize the sale and run the stands.
This
fair was a great success, to the point that the following year a new
party was organized on the theme of Erckmann-Chatrian's novel, Madame
Thérèse.
The "Bazar Erckmann-Chatrian" took place the following
year from May 22 to 25, 1908. Eager to express their Francophile
feelings, the organizers decided to dress up as characters from Madame
Thérèse and Histoire d'un paysan, two novels patriotic depicting heroic
characters ready to do anything to save their territory. In annexed
Alsace and in full debate on the demand for a constitution, these
literary works have a very particular resonance with the circles
gravitating around the Alsatian Museum. The German authorities let it
happen, but this demonstration celebrating France did not go unnoticed.
A few years later, in the context of the First World War, these same
authorities decided to liquidate the “Société du Musée alsacien”
company. The municipality of Strasbourg then took over the establishment
in 1917, gradually reimbursing the shareholders and integrating the
Alsatian Museum into all the Museums of Strasbourg. The mayor appoints a
curator, Adolphe Riff, who remains in office until 1952. Hans Haug,
director of the museums of Strasbourg, then takes charge of the Alsatian
Museum and will be assisted from 1958 by Roger Henninger.
Between
1969 and 1985, the curator Georges Klein organized the collections and
presented numerous themed exhibitions. He carried out the extension of
the museum in the two neighboring buildings (numbers 24 and 25 quai
Saint-Nicolas) and the development of new permanent rooms. Under his
leadership and that of his successor Malou Schneider, the Alsatian
Museum became one of the most important museums of popular arts and
traditions in France.
Two rooms on the third floor have long been
devoted to the work of pastor and pedagogue Jean-Frédéric Oberlin. When
the Jean-Frédéric-Oberlin museum opened in Waldersbach in 2003, this
collection was given to him on deposit.
After the centenary
festivities in 2007, the museum underwent work to bring works and people
up to security standards and reopened to the public on October 15, 2008.
The museum preserves nearly fifty thousand works.
He currently exhibits more than five thousand which can be
classified into a few major themes.
Domestic life in Alsace
Interior fittings, furniture and objects of traditional Alsatian
houses are evoked through reconstructions of living rooms. Richly
decorated, the furniture and objects offer a diversified vision of
Alsatian folk art. The bouquets of flowers and the pomegranate
symbolize prosperity and fertility, while the heart and the birds
represent marital love and fidelity.
The traditional Alsatian
architecture is represented through the half-timbered houses. This
type of house is built from locally available materials such as wood
or sandstone. The most characteristic element is the wooden frame
made up of horizontal and vertical beams reinforced by oblique
beams. The cob (mixture of loess, sand, chopped straw and water) is
used to form the panels sometimes adorned with decorative motifs and
protective inscriptions.
The Gross Stub was formerly the only
heated room in the house. It serves both as living room, dining room
and bedroom for the parents and the youngest child.
The stove
which was used to heat the Stub is fed from the kitchen and the
smoke is evacuated by a pipe which returns under the kitchen hood,
allowing for example to smoke the pork meat which would be suspended
there.
Individual and society
The highlights of the life
of the Alsatians of yesteryear are represented on the second floor
of the museum. Birth, communion, confirmation, marriage and death
are approached according to Catholic, Protestant and Jewish
traditions. The memories made at the end of these rites of passage
(baptism, communion, conscription, marriage, death) make it possible
to attest to changes in the social status of individuals during
their lifetime.
In addition, these documents testify to the
changes of nationality of the Alsatians. Before 1918 speaking
Alsatian and writing in German was the norm for many. It was only
after the end of the First World War, and especially the Second,
that popular expression became French, the dialect and German being
assimilated to a pejorative vision of the enemy, then of the
vanquished.
The cohabitation of Catholics, Protestants and
Jews in Alsace (religions recognized by the Concordat) is evoked
through the rich collections of religious objects.
The
costume room presents the diversity of festive outfits, especially
women, whose attributes indicate in particular the village, the
marital and social status and the religion at first glance. The
famous knotted headdress became larger and larger from the 20th
century, and gradually disappeared from the 1950s, in favor of
urbanization and the development of the fashion industry.
Games and toys
A large collection of toys, particularly from
urban areas, helps to appreciate the educational dimension of the
game. Guided by tenacious gender stereotypes, dollhouses were used
to familiarize girls with household chores and home management. For
their part, the boys learned to make war by moving their little
soldiers or they prepared to practice a trade by playing with
miniature farms, electric trains, etc.
Some toys could only
be handled by children during the holidays. Optical toys such as the
magic lantern were usually given to boys but manipulated by adults
because of their fragility.
The toy industry was developed
especially in Germany from 1830. The succession of toys manufactured
in Germany and later in France testify to the changes of nationality
that the region experienced.
Productions
The last rooms of
the museum are devoted to traditional Alsatian know-how: viticulture
and the marcaires (producers of Munster cheese).
The culture
of the vine was introduced in Alsace by the Romans. Since then, it
has been one of the riches of the region. The seven grape varieties
of Alsace (sylvaner, pinot blanc, riesling, muscat, pinot gris,
gewurztraminer and pinot noir) give their name to the wines. The
barrel decorations at the Alsatian Museum recall Greco-Roman myths,
such as the figure of Dionysos-Bacchus or the sirens.
The
production of Munster cheese, whose name comes from the German
Melker, also has its place in the museum through the evocation of a
marcairie or traditional summer farm.
The Worlds of Paper exhibition. The popular imagery of Wissembourg
took place from October 16, 2010 to January 31, 2011 at the Heitz
gallery of the Rohan palace in Strasbourg. She approached the production
of one of the main centers of production of popular imagery in Europe
located in Wissembourg, in the north of Alsace. Founded in 1835 by Jean
Frédéric Wentzel, this imagery was widely disseminated thanks to the
appearance of lithography in the 19th century.
To approach the
history of this imagery is also to approach the history of Alsace. The
images evoke the emergence of the first manifestations of mass culture
and allow us to appreciate the changes of nationality of the Alsatians
and bilingualism following the annexation to Germany in 1871.
Military iconography, cut-out models, educational images and in
particular religious imagery, whose reputation is well established,
demonstrate the importance of the image in modern society.
Currently, most of the images are in storage after being shown at the
exhibition. They can always be consulted in the catalog published for
this purpose.