Museum für Stadtgeschichte Dessau

About the museum

The Museum für Stadtgeschichte was founded in 1987. It emerged from a city history department set up in 1959 at the Museum für Naturkunde und Vorgeschichte (Museum of Natural History and Prehistory), which was spatially separated in 1981 and first showed a permanent exhibition on the labor movement. For a long time, the museum made do with makeshift quarters, such as a school assembly hall, the tower of the Marienkirche, and administrative rooms on Törtener Straße. From 1999, two rooms in the vaulted cellar of the Johannbau were available.

The Johannbau was built from 1528 to 1533 as the west wing of the Dessau residence palace and has a stair tower considered a masterpiece of early Renaissance architecture in Central Germany. The palace was heavily destroyed in the air raids of 1945; the Johannbau was rebuilt from 1990. From 2001 to 2004, it was converted into a museum, and it opened in August 2005 with today's permanent exhibition "Schauplatz vernünftiger Menschen."

The exhibition is spread over three floors and runs chronologically through the Middle Ages, the Reformation, the era of Prince Leopold I, the enlightened reform work of Prince Franz up to the revolution of 1848, industrialization, and the Bauhaus era. Separate theme islands are devoted to the Jewish community and to the theater, which was called the "Bayreuth of the North."

Highlights

• Stair tower of the Johannbau, built 1530–33
• Model of the Dessau old town before its destruction in 1945
• Philanthropinum and the Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom
• Model of the synagogue destroyed in 1938
• Museum café in the Johannbau

Permanent exhibition

• Schauplatz vernünftiger Menschen … Kultur und Geschichte in Anhalt | Dessau – Tour across three floors through roughly 800 years of Dessau and Anhalt history, from the medieval town through the Enlightenment to the industrial and Bauhaus periods.

Founded

1987

Operated by

Stadt Dessau-Roßlau

Admission & discounts

Free admission upon presentation of ID for accompanying adults of after-school, kindergarten, and school groups; holders of a Sozialpass (social pass); asylum seekers; members of the Museumsverband Sachsen-Anhalt, the German Museums Association, and ICOM; and with a WelterbeCard (World Heritage Card).

Accessibility

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

Access to the museum in the Johannbau is barrier-free; there is a lift in the building.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

Amenities & dining

• Café

Museum café in the Johannbau.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit