Where do we come from?

The museum, which opened on 14 September 1989, came under the responsibility of the newly refounded Free State of Thuringia as a former institution of the Halle district during the political change in 1989/90 (since 1 January 1995 officially called the Panorama Museum). In 1991, the Thuringian Ministry of Science and Art in Erfurt, which was responsible at the time, commissioned the development of a final, comprehensive museum concept that would take into account the actual conditions of the museum. This concept was submitted to the Ministry in September 1991 and confirmed by it as a binding working basis. In August 2006, the "Panorama Museum e.V." was founded, which has been responsible for the museum since 01.01.2008.

Who are we?

The Panorama Museum Bad Frankenhausen is a museum for contemporary fine art as defined by the International Council of Museums (ICOM). At its centre is the work of Werner Tübke (1929-2004) and in particular his monumental panorama painting "Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany" (14 x 123 m, oil on canvas). Since 1992, three special exhibitions have been held each year in close correspondence with these works. In addition to purely art historical themes, these exhibitions present primarily contemporary figurative art, mostly of a metaphorical nature, of international standing. In the scientific and collection area, the museum concentrates primarily on the complete artistic oeuvre of Werner Tübke, but also on works by other contemporary European artists with comparable Old Master figurative pictorial claims.

What can we do?

In accordance with the statutes of the Panorama Museum e. V., the work of the museum focuses in particular on Werner Tübke's oeuvre and its contextualisation through the organisation of special exhibitions which place Tübke's achievements in an art-historical context which cannot be presented in any other museum and which, despite its scientific and publicity value, is not considered elsewhere, neither in the museum context nor in the university context. Permanent and special exhibitions in their unique combination thus form the two decisive supporting pillars of the museum's work, which is also manifested in an appropriate form in the showrooms of the circular building, while at the same time conveying the fact that Werner Tübke's "Sistina of the North" rests on the foundation of a development in art history that has proved fruitful on both the main and the secondary paths of art in the survival of an old-masterly figurative pictorial concept up to the present day. Collecting, preserving, researching, exhibiting, mediating and publishing are integral parts of the museum's self-image, which describe the core tasks of the museum's work.

All of the museum's tasks are supported by broad public relations work and are carried out by an in-house administration and technical department (including logistics and security management).

Art and culture for all

In addition to specialist scientific expertise, the museum also has an efficient museum education system that ensures that the museum's contents are communicated to different target groups, including in the barrier-free area. Additional offers of diverse small art events complete the profile and, in addition to the art and cultural tourism dimension of the museum with its decidedly supra-regional appeal, also ensure a broad range of cultural activities on site, which also generates regional and local ties. A museum café and a museum shop (combined with ticket sales) as well as a cloakroom with service function are part of the services offered by the Panorama.

Importance of the museum

The successful symbiosis between the outstanding achievement of a contemporary artist and the singular exhibition concept was honored in 2001 when the Panorama Museum was included in the so-called "Blue Book" of the German government. This inventory of nationally significant cultural institutions in the new federal states lists 20 "lighthouses", museums of national cultural heritage, as well as 20 "cultural memorials" - institutions dedicated to important German personalities. In addition, the Panorama Museum 2011 has been awarded the European Heritage Seal of Approval in the network "Sites of the Reformation".

At the centre of the Panorama Museum is the monumental painting by Werner Tübke. The museum also has an extensive collection of contemporary art, consisting of prints, paintings, drawings, watercolours, pastels and sculptures. Most of the works were acquired by purchase. In addition, there is a selection of permanent loans from the Free State of Thuringia and the Berlin Regional Tax Office. Recently, however, the Panorama Museum has also received donations, which have already been presented to the public in special exhibitions.

The beginning of the museum's collecting activities dates back to the end of the 1970s and continues to the present day. In the early years, the collection was focused on works of art specifically on the theme of the Peasant War. The foundation of this stock is formed by paintings and graphic works such as the polyptych "The Great German Peasant War" (1974) by Heinz Zander or the painting "Vision on the Peasant War" (1976) by Willi Neubert. In the graphic cassette "Zum 450. Jahrestag des Deutschen Bauernkrieges 1975" (On the 450th anniversary of the German Peasant War 1975), a large number of painters and graphic artists artistically dealt with the subject of the Peasant War. Furthermore, attention was also paid to regional artists. Thus, the Panorama has a small but beautiful collection of works by Werner Haselhuhn.

While the first additions were mainly gifts from the GDR Ministry of Culture, a further focal point of the collection with works by Werner Tübke was formed at the end of 1978 through a now continuous and active purchase. This aspect occupies the most important place in the inventory. In the meantime, the Panorama Museum owns a large number of works by Werner Tübke in addition to the monumental painting. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that almost the complete graphic work of the painter is available. Also included in this spectrum are the works for the stage design of the opera "Der Freischütz" by Carl Maria von Weber. From the collection of Tübke's paintings, the early work "Fünf Erdteile" (1958), the panel "Ende der Narrengerichtsbarkeit" (1978) and the "Dr. jur Schulze" versions I and V should be mentioned here as examples. The "Leipzig School", which Werner Tübke helped to found, produced artists who have since become a permanent fixture in the collection, including Heinz Zander, Bernhard Heisig, Wolfgang Mattheuer and Horst Sakulowski. Depending on the financial means available, the museum endeavours to expand and develop this focus of the collection.

In addition to acquisitions, donations form another important part of the collection. Two important donations are the Albert-Leo Troost and Fabius von Gugel Collection. The donation of Fabius von Gugel was preceded by a special exhibition of the artist's work at the Panorama Museum in 1998. After the exhibition, the artist decided to donate a large part of his paintings and graphic works to the Panorama Museum.

The development of the second major donation, the collection of Albert-Leo Troost, was similar. The collector Troost became aware of it through exhibitions of Czech and Slovak artists (for example Albín Brunovský, Aleš Veselý and Jiří Anderle) in the Panorama Museum. In August 2001 he transferred to the museum an extensive collection of prints of contemporary Czech and Slovak art.

Special exhibitions also gave new impulses to the collection activities. Many of the exhibiting artists also donated one or two works to the museum. The associated expansion of the collection is further enhanced by acquisitions. Artists such as Albín Brunovský, Jiří Anderle, Enrico Colombotto Rosso, Samuel Bak, or collectors and gallery owners such as Gisela and Hans-Peter Schulz from Leipzig, who have followed the museum's exhibition programme with equal sympathy and have made donations to the museum, should be mentioned here as examples.