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Berlin museums may home the enduring Nefertiti bust, the Ishtar gate of historical Babylon or Rembrandt masterpieces, however they nonetheless path international counterparts in reputation — and the coronavirus is making issues worse.
Millions of euros have been poured into the establishments, but the 19 museums managed by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) attracted simply 4.2 million guests final 12 months, whereas the Louvre alone drew 9.6 million.
Alarmed by lacklustre public curiosity, Germany is planning a significant shake-up after a report commissioned by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s authorities slammed the muse as dysfunctional, outdated and out of contact.
For Joerg Haentzschel, a culture journalist on the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, the capital’s museums are tormented by “a persistent culture of exclusivity, lack of transparency and institutional arrogance.
“Those responsible for museums are still serving their own peers first and foremost, rather than bringing everyone in — children, people with dementia, people from other origins and educational backgrounds,” he mentioned.
– Quiet halls –
Around the nook from Potsdamer Platz within the metropolis’s bustling enterprise district, the Gemaeldegalerie sits quietly within the shadows of shiny excessive-rises, its exhibition halls sometimes dotted with only a handful of tourists.
The museum boasts world-well-known masterpieces by Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Vermeer — and but it attracted solely 310,000 guests final 12 months. And that was earlier than the pandemic hit.
The Gemaeldegalerie is considered one of 19 museums managed by the SPK, some of the necessary cultural establishments on the earth with 15 collections and 4.7 million objects.
The SPK’s most treasured possession, which has pleasure of place within the Neues Museum, is a limestone bust of Nefertiti, thought of by some to be probably the most well-known depiction of a feminine face on the earth after the Mona Lisa.
But comparisons with the Louvre finish there. At the Gemaeldegalerie, there aren’t any crowds jostling for a glimpse of the traditional Egyptian queen.
– ‘Institutional arrogance’ –
And this despite Berlin’s popularity as a vibrant cultural hub, attracting artists in droves from all around the world — and a tourism trade that has exploded over the previous decade, although now hobbled by COVID-19.
In the damning report, consultants known as for the SPK to be abolished and changed by 4 separate our bodies.
With round 2,000 workers and a funds of 335 million euros ($381 million) this 12 months, the SPK is the most important cultural sector employer in Germany.
The consultants pointed specifically to failures within the digital enviornment, accentuated at a time when most of the world’s museums are relying on the web because of worldwide journey restrictions.
“Many international museums have a large number of followers on social media,” Marina Muenkler, who chaired the working group behind the report, instructed the Tagesspiegel newspaper.
“Museums need to be in contact with the public before they come to the museum … Apps can be created for exhibitions. But this is often no longer possible in Berlin, because many museums do not have wi-fi.”
The report criticised a reliance on “ partly … outdated ideas about museum work” and a failure to mirror the “diversity of the world”.
As a outcome, Berlin’s museums “have partly lost or risk losing touch with international developments,” it mentioned.
The criticism comes despite thousands and thousands of euros spent on bold cultural initiatives within the German capital lately.
Take the James Simon Gallery, the brand new entrance constructing to Berlin’s UNESCO World Heritage-listed Museum Island designed by star British architect David Chipperfield — at a value of 134 million euros.
Or the Neue Nationalgalerie with its Expressionist gems, because of reopen subsequent 12 months after greater than 5 years of renovation work, additionally led by Chipperfield.
For Culture Minister Monika Gruetters, the report marked a “first, very important step towards making the foundation future-proof”, or tailored to future challenges, as she promised to reform the SPK inside three to 5 years.
(This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content. Only the headline has been modified.)
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