Museum Witzenhausen

About the museum

The core of the collection was assembled from around 1900 by graduates and friends of the Deutsche Kolonialschule (German Colonial School) in Witzenhausen. From their postings in the colonies of the time, they sent minerals, plants, animal skins and horns, everyday objects, jewelry, weapons and ritual objects, but also human remains to their former school, where the items were displayed and used as teaching material.

After World War II, the Deutsches Institut für tropische und subtropische Landwirtschaft (DITSL – German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture) took over the complex of the former Wilhelmite monastery on Steinstraße; in 1957 training in agriculture for tropical countries began there. The collection continued to grow, now through donations and loans from teachers and students of the institute and of the Gesamthochschule founded in 1971, today's University of Kassel. In 1976 this became the Völkerkundliches Museum (ethnological museum), run by a foundation in which the town of Witzenhausen and DITSL participate. The roughly 2,300 objects belong to DITSL, the museum building to the foundation.

For many items, information about origin, acquisition and previous owners is still missing today. The museum and the institute therefore conduct provenance research together with research institutions in Germany and abroad, in order to trace the paths of the objects and contribute to a critical examination of colonial history. As part of this work, the exhibition was revised and the museum renamed: since May 2024 the Museum Witzenhausen has been presented in the Kaufunger Hof, a half-timbered building on the campus on Steinstraße, right next to the University of Kassel's tropical greenhouse.

Highlights

• Ethnographic collection of some 2,300 objects, mainly from Africa, Oceania and South America
• Revised presentation in the historic Kaufunger Hof (since 2024)
• Provenance research into the origins of objects from colonial contexts
• Online inventory of the collection
• Located on the campus with the University of Kassel's tropical greenhouse

Permanent exhibitions

• Ethnographische Sammlung – Kulturen der Welt – Redesigned presentation in the Kaufunger Hof of the collection formerly shown as the Völkerkundliches Museum, addressing the colonial circumstances of its creation and the origins of the objects.

Founded

1976

Operated by

Stiftung Völkerkundliches Museum Witzenhausen (Sammlung im Eigentum der DITSL GmbH)

Admission & discounts

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Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The museum is in the Kaufunger Hof on the campus at Steinstraße 19, which also houses DITSL, the library and the tropical greenhouse.

Amenities & dining

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Events & venue rental

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