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Fig. 6.
Chemnitz, Haus der
Archäologie: the table
of Saxony (photo by
Atelier Brückner).
der the cathedral to which medieval Xanten owes its origin. Four
selected Frankish graves illustrate the Germanic culture, Roman
traditions and continued links to the Mediterranean.
Haus der Archäologie, Chemnitz, Germany
The “Haus der Archäologie”, the latest project to be presented, will
be located in the “Kaufhaus Schocken” in Chemnitz, designed by
the famous architect Erich Mendelsohn in the 1920’s. In 2013 it will
be opened as state museum for archaeology and history in Saxony.
At the moment, everything is under construction, but I will show
you the principle concept for this museum:
The content for the museum is quite similar to the museum of
Herne, but the way of presentation is different.
A section through the museum shows the ground floor, the three
floors with permanent exhibition and the fourth floor for temporary
exhibitions. On the first floor the visitor walks through 280,000
years of Saxony, in the second through 7,000 years and in the third
through 1.000 years. Two highlights of the museum are starting on
the ground floor: “The table of Saxony” (fig. 6) and a 15 meters
high section through the earth. The last one mentioned is the biggest
original object of the museum, and it stands for the concentration
of time and the unbelievable power of nature. The devise of human
being inside the section, are the starting point for the work of
archaeologists.
Like the section, the “saxentable” stands also as a symbol for time.
This highlight combines different layers. On the ground floor the
visitor finds an interactive table with fascinating content of Saxony
and the exhibition. Everybody in the foyer can interact with the
table, without ticket; we call this free museum. The second layer
is a topographic map; these moveable elements connect the floors
and they are a symbol for the time axis. When these elements are
in motion, content is projected on them, suitable to the content of
the floor. The map elements are moving through time. This movement
through time, which the visitor learns at the beginning of the
exhibition, will be taken as basic principle for all the media in the
exhibition.
During an excavation archaeologists are discovering hints from the
ground earth. Cut-outs in an untapped landscape or in the heart
of a city are drawing interest in archaeology. A grid structures the
landscape, and preserves the character. The removal, scrolling and
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