Exhibitions

The organisation of exhibitions is an integral part of the range of tasks of the Krupp Historical Archive. Numerous objects, photographs and documents are presented in the Krupp Historical Exhibition in the so-called “Kleines Haus der Villa Hügel” (“Little House of Villa Hügel”). Select pieces are also displayed as part of digital exhibitions and thereby made accessible to the public without restrictions in terms of time and space or presented on the Krupp Foundation’s Instagram channel. In addition to its own revolving exhibitions, the archive regularly makes loans to museums and exhibition centres, both nationally and internationally.

Krupp historical exhibition

The Krupp Historical Exhibition in the Little House of Villa Hügel comprises several themed areas: On the ground floor, the Krupp family and Villa Hügel with its park are presented. Two additional rooms are dedicated to the establishment, history and activities of the Krupp Foundation. On the upper floor, the history of the Krupp company since its beginnings more than 200 years ago is presented. The exhibition aims to provide a differentiated overview of the Krupp history based on the current state of research and invites visitors to search for traces on their own.

Digital exhibition

Only a fraction of the archive material can be viewed by visitors in the Krupp Historical Exhibition, the rest is stored professionally in repositories. With the topic “The 1974 Brazilian national team as guests at Krupp”, the archive has created the first digital exhibition that makes two objects accessible and tells a story that no one who hears the name Krupp would expect. We are talking about the Brazilian national football team’s stay in the Ruhr region when the 1974 World Cup took place. The Brazilians stayed in a hotel that belonged to the Krupp Group and their visit left its mark: A commemorative album and a signed football have recently been added to the archive. In the future, visitors will be able to discover these two objects and many more, regardless of time and place.

Revolving exhibitions

The Krupp Historical Archive has repeatedly organised revolving exhibitions to raise awareness of the diversity of its collections and to illustrate the appeal of unusual items. Sometimes the presentations were larger, sometimes they were organised as cabinet exhibitions. In 2011, the exhibition “Krupp – Photographs from two centuries” spanned 15 rooms at Villa Hügel and attracted 146,000 visitors. The following exhibitions were also very popular: “Fascination Industry – Krupp and the painter Heinrich Kley” (2013), ”Economy! Miracle! Krupp in Photography 1949-1967” (2014) and “Humboldt expresses his gratitude, while Adenauer disavows. Letters from the Krupp Historical Archive” (2017). With detailed catalogues, or at least with flyers, the revolving exhibitions remain present beyond their end.

Loaned items for external exhibitions

Because Krupp is associated with so many things, exhibits from the Krupp Historical Archive have traditionally been in demand for museums and exhibition centres all over the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the 21st century, this demand has increased once again. In this, the objects by no means travel only short distances within the city of Essen, such as to the Ruhr Museum or the Folkwang Museum. No, they have also travelled to museums in the capital such as the German Historical Museum, the Liebermann Villa and the German Resistance Memorial. They travelled to Dresden (German Hygiene Museum) and Bonn (House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany), to Hamburg (Museum of Arts and Crafts) and Munich (German Museum), they crossed the German borders to Winterthur to the Photo Museum, to Vienna to the Technical Museum, to Brussels to the House of European History, to Capri to the Town Hall and even all the way to Tokyo to the National Science Museum.

Exhibitions

Exhibitions

Krupp historical exhibition

Digital exhibition

Revolving exhibitions

Loaned items for external exhibitions

The Krupp Historical Archive

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Exhibitions

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