Deutsches Elfenbeinmuseum

About the museum

The museum was inspired by an ivory exhibition held for the Hessentag (Hesse state festival) in Michelstadt in 1962. On October 29, 1966, a dedicated museum was founded in Erbach, initially housed in a newly built community center; its founding director was Hans-Werner Hegemann. From 1976 it bore the name Deutsches Elfenbeinmuseum, with extensions in 1977 and 1984 and a modernization in 2006.

Because the town of Erbach could no longer cover the operating costs, the museum was considered at risk of closure in 2013. The State of Hesse then took over the collection: the old site closed at the end of 2015, and on November 9, 2016 the museum reopened in redesigned rooms at Schloss Erbach, managed by the Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Hessen.

The tour across some 450 square meters begins with Count Franz I of Erbach-Erbach. He had encountered precious ivory works on his educational grand tour, did his own turning at home and in 1783 founded a guild of ivory turners – the beginning of a craft that long shaped the Odenwald region. Works by Erbach carvers such as Otto Glenz, Ferdinand Preiss and Emil Straub follow in chronological order up to the modern era; the pieces are individually spotlit in darkened rooms. A treasury with twelve display cases and a cabinet of bone carvings by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff complete the exhibition. For reasons of species protection, the adjoining museum workshop today works only with substitute materials such as tagua nut, cattle bone or fossil mammoth ivory.

Highlights

• Turned pieces made by Count Franz I of Erbach-Erbach himself
• Treasury with twelve display cases full of ivory art from the 18th to 20th centuries
• Figures by Otto Glenz and Art Deco works by Ferdinand Preiss
• Cabinet with twelve bone carvings by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
• Demonstration workbench showing the craft of carving

Permanent exhibitions

• Elfenbeinkunst aus drei Jahrhunderten – A chronological tour from the works of Count Franz I to the modern era, with dedicated display cases for Erbach carvers such as Otto Glenz, Ferdinand Preiss and Emil Straub.
• Schatzkammer – Twelve display cases bring together particularly precious ivory works from Erbach and all over Germany from the 18th to the 20th century.
• Kabinett Karl Schmidt-Rottluff – The last room shows twelve bone carvings by the Expressionist, which the founding director acquired directly from the artist in 1972.

Founded

1966

Operated by

Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Hessen

Admission & discounts

The Ivory Museum has its own admission and can be visited without a guided tour; the Count's Collections (Gräfliche Sammlungen) in the same palace can only be visited on a guided tour with a separate ticket. Tickets at the ticket desk in the museum shop in the palace courtyard.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials
• Audio description: no information

Access via a stair lift, which should be requested in advance at the ticket desk; inside the museum, a 98 cm wide walkway leads over ramps with gradients of up to 10%. The workshop can be reached via a portable ramp. No loan wheelchairs; seating in the treasury. Accessible restroom in the palace; accessible parking spaces on Neue Lustgartenstraße and at the Marktplatz. No tactile guidance system, no audio system for the hearing impaired, no visual alarm. Introductory information in Easy German (Leichte Sprache). At the same time, the visitor information states in general terms that the museum is not accessible.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Stroller-friendly: not available
• Kids’ birthday parties

Free children's audio guide (Museumslauscher) and children's audio tour in the Kulturschätze app. Workshops in the museum workshop for children and adults; the castle's experience tours and workshops can also be booked as a children's birthday party. According to the visitor rules, strollers are not allowed in the interior rooms.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Museum shop with a ticket desk and a specialist book section in the castle courtyard.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Plan your visit