Gebäude Außenansicht Detail West_4381

The Cultural Historic Museum Magdeburg

The Museum and its Exhibits

The Cultural Historic Museum focuses on the history of Magdeburg. It is divided in a permanent and a special exhibition, which changes regularly. One of the most important exhibits of the museum is the statue of the “Magdeburger Reiter” (the "Magdeburg Equestrian"). It is presented in the “Emperor Otto Hall”, which is designed in medieval style and has wall paintings from 1905/06 when the museum was founded.

The permanent exhibition "Magdeburg - the history of the city" shows the development of Magdeburg throughout time. It starts with the first mention of Magdeburg in 805 and the time as an imperial city during the reign of Otto the Great (812-873), the first "German Emperor". Visitors can experience the history of Magdeburg  by a great variety of original exhibits. The city was several times completely destroyed and rebuild (1631 and 1945), had the famous scientist Otto-von-Guericke as mayor, was one of the most important fortresses of Prussia and finally became the capital city of Saxony-Anhalt.

Furthermore, the museum contains a permanent art collection. At present, the exhibition contains pieces of ancient and medieval times, paintings from the 15th to the 20th century, textiles, precious gobelins from Flanders, furniture from various centuries, ceramics and a number of special collections.

The Cultural Historic Museum shares a building with the Museum of Natural History.

Permanent exhibitions

Prices per person for permanent exhibition:

Adults: 5 Euros
Concessions: 3 Euros
Group as of 12 persons: 2 Euros per person

Special Exhibitions may cost extra charge.

Historical background

In the beginning of the 20th century, the museum was planned and built by the Viennese architect Friedrich Ohmann. He designed the building in a Renaissance and Gothic style, by using architectural elements he tried to imitate the glory and splendour of the time. The Cultural Historic Museum of Magdeburg opened in 1906. Originally the Museum was built as an art museum. Various societies donated their art collections, which were further expanded by the first museum director Theodor Volbehr (1862-1931) who presented them for the first time.

The eastern building was added in a second construction phase in 1912/1913. In World War II the museum was partially destroyed and suffered almost the complete loss of its valuable objects. The reconstruction began in 1945/46 and for practical reasons the city of Magdeburg decided to add the exhibition of the Museum of Natural History to the former Cultural Historic Museum.