Archaeological State Museum of Baden-Wuerttemberg

The Archaeological State Museum of Baden-Württemberg (ALM) is the central archaeological museum for the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg, located in Konstanz on the southern shore of Lake Constance. Founded in 1990, it is one of only two museums in the state whose purview extends across the entire territory of Baden-Württemberg, the other being the House of History Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart. The museum preserves, researches, and presents archaeological finds from throughout the state, operating with a total exhibition space of 8,717 square meters (93,830 square feet) including its branch museums. Its main permanent exhibition spans 3,000 square meters (32,000 square feet) across three floors, presenting a cross-section of regional history from the Paleolithic to the Early Modern period.

The museum was established by cabinet decision on 8 June 1990 under the state government of Lothar Späth. Dieter Planck, the state archaeologist and president of the State Office for Monument Preservation of Baden-Württemberg, served as founding director. Initially, the Konstanz location was conceived as a temporary branch of a future central museum in Stuttgart, since suitable space could not be found in the capital. The former Petershausen Abbey, a state-owned property, was selected for this purpose. The permanent exhibition opened to the public on 14 March 1992. The plan to transfer the museum to Stuttgart was abandoned in 2012, and the ALM became an independent, state-run museum. Since 2012, it has operated as a Landesbetrieb (state enterprise) and today oversees eight affiliated branches. The museum has had six directors since its founding. In January 2023, archaeologist Nina Willburger succeeded Barbara Theune-Großkopf as permanent representative of the director, overseeing daily operations in Konstanz while the scientific head of the museum simultaneously serves as president of the State Agency for Monument Preservation in Stuttgart.

The ALM's collections present a comprehensive cross-section of the history of Baden-Württemberg from the Paleolithic period through the Early Modern era. The museum's holdings encompass prehistoric stilt houses, Roman settlement remains, medieval urban and rural life, and recent archaeological discoveries. The collection is distinguished by its integration of UNESCO World Heritage themes, including the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps and the Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura. The museum also maintains responsibility for five documentation centers related to the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes, another World Heritage Site. Since 2006, the museum has staged special exhibitions using Playmobil figures to re-enact historical epochs in a 100 square meter exhibition area on the top floor, engaging younger audiences with archaeological narratives.

Among the museum's most significant objects is the Trossinger Leier, a nearly perfectly preserved lyre discovered in an Alemannic gravesite near Trossingen and dated to 580 CE. It is considered the best-preserved example among only 15 known early medieval specimens of its kind. The museum also displays the Menhir von Weilheim, a partially reliefed monolith from the early Bronze Age. The oldest excavated ship from Lake Constance, a medieval cargo barge dating to 1340 CE discovered off the shore near Immenstaad, is housed in a purpose-built annex opened on 18 September 2000. This 14-meter-long, 5-meter-wide vessel is prominently featured, with its outline highlighted on the exterior facade of the annex. Other notable displays include archaeological finds from the Roman settlement of Lopodunum at Ladenburg, remains of a Roman settlement at Trossingen, and an interactive presentation of urban development in Konstanz from the first Roman fortifications onward. The museum also presents the oldest mask from southwest Germany and grave artifacts of the Counts of Sulz from the church of St. Maria Himmelfahrt in Tiengen.

The main exhibition area occupies the convent building of the former Petershausen Abbey of the Benedictines in Konstanz. This Baroque structure, which had last been used by the French army, consisted of rows of monastic cells arranged along long corridors. During conversion to museum use, this historical architecture was largely preserved, though walls of some cells were removed and others combined to create larger display spaces as needed. An annex was added to accommodate the 14th-century Lake Constance cargo barge. The permanent displays occupy three floors within the 3,000 square meter main exhibition space. Beyond Konstanz, the ALM oversees multiple external sites: the Federsee Museum in Bad Buchau (with an information center for the Prehistoric Pile Dwellings World Heritage Site), the Prehistoric Museum at Blaubeuren (with an information center for the Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura World Heritage Site), five documentation centers for the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes World Heritage Site (Römerhaus in Walheim, Limesmuseum in Aalen, Römermuseum in Osterburken, Römerkeller in Oberriexingen, and the Roman section of the Dominikanermuseum in Rottweil), and the Central Archaeological Depository in Rastatt, which handles storage, conservation, and restoration but is not normally open to the public.

The Archaeological State Museum of Baden-Württemberg is located in Konstanz, a city in southwestern Germany on the southern shore of Lake Constance, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria. The central exhibition can be accessed at the former Petershausen Abbey. As a state-run institution (Landesbetrieb since 2012), the museum operates under public ownership. Its website is http://www.konstanz.alm-bw.de/de/. The museum's present role combines preservation, research, and public presentation of archaeological heritage across the entire state of Baden-Württemberg, functioning as one of only two museums with statewide historical responsibility. Daily operations in Konstanz are managed by the permanent representative of the director, while the scientific director based in Stuttgart also serves as president of the State Agency for Monument Preservation, maintaining the institutional link between the museum and state heritage administration that has existed since the museum's founding.