Linden-Museum Stuttgart

Why go

The galleries bring together material associated with Oceania, Africa, Asia and the Orient. Their breadth invites comparison, while the museum’s attention to provenance and restitution raises questions about how such collections were formed. That institutional history adds a reason to look beyond an object’s appearance towards its route into the museum.

What to look for

• Permanent galleries cover Oceania, Africa, Asia and the Orient.
• The museum’s programme also addresses provenance and restitution.

The full story

The museum grew from a collection assembled by Stuttgart’s nineteenth-century Association for Trade Geography. Its name commemorates Karl Graf von Linden, who helped develop and organise that collection. Those beginnings matter when considering how objects from distant regions reached a museum in Stuttgart: collecting was connected with the city’s outward-looking commercial and geographical interests. The collection became a private museum in 1911, when the present building was constructed. Wartime damage was followed by restoration in the 1950s, adding another chapter to the institution’s history. The wider programme’s attention to provenance and restitution gives this background continuing relevance. Alongside looking at materials, forms and uses, consider the history of collection itself. The museum offers an opportunity to ask who gathered objects, under what circumstances, and how institutions explain those histories to visitors.

Useful to know

• Choose the regional galleries that interest you before adding a special exhibition.
• Check which galleries a special-exhibition ticket or programme actually includes.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.