Fischledermuseum Viechtach

About the museum

The museum belongs to the open studio of Anatol Donkan on Billergasse in Viechtach. Donkan himself comes from the Nanai people, who live in the lower reaches of the Amur in Siberia and for centuries were shaped by fishing. The Nanai made clothing, tents, bags, and ritual and decorative objects from fish skin, which were elaborately embroidered.

Donkan brought the almost lost technique of processing fish skin to the Bavarian Forest and collected historic pieces of fish leather, which form the core of the collection. It includes everyday clothing, gloves, tools, implements and embroidered ornaments made of salmon leather, as well as drums, spirit figures and amulets from Nanai shamanism. There are also objects with regional links, such as fish-leather pendants sold in the 1950s in a general store in Viechtach.

The non-profit association Fischledermuseum Viechtach e. V. supports the museum's work; it aims to establish fish leather as an intangible UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

Highlights

• Historic fish-leather collection of the Nanai
• Clothing, gloves and embroidered ornaments of salmon leather
• Drums, spirit figures and amulets from Nanai shamanism
• Open studio with fish-leather art and shop

Permanent exhibition

• Historische Fischleder-Sammlung – Fish-leather clothing, tools, embroidered ornaments and cult objects of the Nanai, as well as fish-leather objects with regional links.

Operated by

Anatol Donkan; Fischledermuseum Viechtach e. V.

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