Altötting wants to resonate his local museum - a long way!

Altötting wants to resonate his local museum - a long way!

Altötting, Deutschland - It has been over 15 years since the city of Altötting has closed its local museum. In 2008 the "Beck’s home collection" was dissolved in favor of a new pilgrimage museum, and since then the citizens have been waiting: inside longingly for a revival of their cultural treasures. But despite several attempts to bring the old collection back, success has so far been unsuccessful. The Oettinger Heimatbund regrets this state and continues to work to preserve the collective objects and to put it on adequately.

Special interest aroused a town table in 2011, which met with great response. Many Altöttingen agreed that the loss of a local museum left a painful gap. The Heimatbund, which has been connected to the region's local history since its foundation in 1921, is now planning to document the old stocks and to issue them in suitable rooms.

The history of the local museum

The roots of the Altöttingen Heimatmuseum go back over 100 years. Dr. phil. Hugo Beck and his wife Paula laid the foundation for the collection, which was presented in a room of the episcopal administration from 1920. Many changes followed, so a local museum was set up in the former Franciscan house in 1928. On July 8, 1929, Dr. Beck ceremoniously to the city, which later appointed him an honorary citizen. This eventful story clearly shows how important the museum is for the identity of the city.

During the war and post-war period, the museum was forgotten, which led to damage to the objects. The museum found new locations in the following decades, but after the closure in 2008, most of the exhibits are stowed away in an inaccessible depot space. Only a few objects were integrated into the new pilgrimage museum, which the members of the [Oettinger Heimatbund] (https://www.oettinger-heimatbund.de/neue page/) called on the scene to consider a re-establishment of the local museum.

a new attempt

The reopening of a local museum could be a great opportunity for Altötting not only to promote local culture, but also to create a contact point for the generations that are connected to this story. In recent years, numerous initiatives for the documentation of home collections have been created, such as the project, which is led by Christian Albrechts University in Kiel in order to comprehensively record and evaluate collections in Germany. These projects, supported by the [BKGE] (https://www.bkge.de/projekte/documentation-der-heimatsammlungen-in-Deutschland), could also serve as a model for the Altöttingen Heimatbund.

We can be excited to see whether and when Altötting will receive a local museum again and whether the old treasures that are waiting for their big appearance in the depot can soon be made accessible to the public. The will and the commitment of the citizens: inside and the home association are definitely noticeable. It will be shown whether the dream of a new local museum will soon become a reality.