Alsfeld remembers!Opening of the first museum in the wine house

After the sale of the hostel sign of the guild inn “Zum wilden Mann” into foreign hands, some Alsfeld citizens, concerned about the increasing sale of cultural assets, saw themselves prompted to place an advertisement in the Alsfelder Kreisblatt on September 7, 1897 “for the preservation and collection of the town’s antiquities and an association to be formed for the above purpose”. This association was founded on September 9, gave itself the name “Geschichts- und Alterthumsverein der Stadt Alsfeld” and immediately began its work “to collect and preserve all the ancient treasures of our town and to make them accessible to further circles”.

In addition, press and information work was carried out and one also turned to the city council with the request “…to instruct him a suitable location for the installation of the antiquities in a municipal building.” Already on October 28, the town board decided to “offer the upper hall of the wine house to the History and Antiquities Society…”. Only a year later, on October 23, 1898, the museum was opened there.

In 1902, the association issued the first scientific publications, sifted, arranged and recorded all the archival holdings in 1905-1909 and handed them over to the city the following year. The museum remained in the Wine House until 1913, when it moved to the Wedding House. MNic