Opened in 1868 the Museum of Decorative Arts is one of the oldest and most important collections of applied art in Europe.
The most precious items include the famous Guelph Treasure, Venetian glass and majolica, Meissen porcelain, and works of great Art Nouveau artists like Tiffany, Lalique or Carlo Bugatti.
a detail from Kunstgewerbemuseum
The exhibition is divided into separate parts aiming to educate artists and industrial designers (but also the ordinary visitors ) in the history of interior design in Europe. The early Medieval art is tied with religion, and the most valuable items ( often of pure silver or gold ) in the collection came from various German churches. The most impressive are the item that once belonged to Guelph family from Brunswick.
The Reliquary in the form of Domed church (1175–80) with figures from walrus ivory often appears on cover pages of books and posters.
Renaissance art shifts towards individual needs of man, and the exhibition here resemble the interior of rich Italian merchant with tapestries, wooden furniture, majolica and fine examples of Venetian glass from 15th and 16th centuries.
Treasures from the Baroque period include a vast collection of porcelain from first manufactory in Meißen and other German factories, also German and Bohemian glass.
The Secession and Art Nouveau periods are represented by works of artists from numerous countries. Noticeable are ‘frosted glass’ by Emile Galle,
glassworks by Tiffany and jewelry by Lalique. The furniture designed by Carlo Bugatti shows the Orient fascination present in many of the artists from the end of 19th century.
Kunstgewerbemuseum
Tiergartenstr. 6.
Phone: 20 90 55 66
Opening hours : 10 am–6 pm (Tue–Fri)
11 am –6 pm ( Sat , Sun )
[photo courtesy of Castorp Republic]
