Museum am Rothenbaum - Kulturen und Künste der Welt

The Museum am Rothenbaum, Kulturen und Künste der Welt (MARKK) preserves the cultural and artistic wealth of humanity.

The Museum am Rothenbaum is one of the largest ethnographic museums in Europe. Founded in 1879 as the Museum of Ethnology, it was renamed in 2018. In its more than 130-year history, remarkable collections from Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Americas and Europe have been assembled, ranging in time from antiquity to the present. Complementing the special and permanent exhibitions are events, lectures, workshops and guided tours that give visitors access to a different understanding of the world, open up spaces for cultural encounter and encourage global citizenship.

Exciting permanent exhibitions

In addition to masks from New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the neighbouring island states, visitors to the MARKK can also admire "The House of Rauru". The carved meeting house is a masterpiece of Maori art and has been in the museum for over 100 years. It is one of the few places outside New Zealand that offers such a direct encounter with the islands' cultural heritage. Its wealth of lore, carved, woven, and painted designs opens up unique approaches to Māori Arts & Crafts. Other permanent exhibitions include Uri Korea - Korea's Present Between Traditions, Pop Culture and High Tech; A Touch of Eternity - The Culture of Ancient Egypt; Inca Gallery - Treasures of the Andes and First Things - objects first recorded in the early days of the museum's founding in 1867.

The MARKK also has photographic collections, valuable manuscripts, maps and manuscripts, and a wonderful library that is open to the public and specialises in cultural and social anthropology and the material cultures and arts of the world.

Special exhibitions and events

The MARKK presents and questions its collections in changing special exhibitions. For many objects - as well as the building itself, which was completed in 1912 - reflect Hamburg's trade relations and trade networks in the context of colonial economic interests. The MARKK shows the history as well as the present of Hamburg as a trading metropolis. In the interspace, the initiated path of content-related repositioning and decolonisation is thematised in a laboratory-like manner and events are held on this subject. The MARKK also offers a varied programme of events for families and children/young people. The MARKK's regular festivals include the "Mexican Dead Festival" in November or "Cool Japan" in March.