Pomeranian State Museum

The Pomeranian State Museum (German: Pommersches Landesmuseum) is a public museum in Greifswald, Western Pomerania, Germany, primarily dedicated to Pomeranian history and arts. Established as a foundation in 1996 and opened to the public in stages between 2000 and 2005, it holds approximately 60,000 objects spanning 14,000 years of regional history. The museum occupies a distinctive architectural ensemble in the southeastern part of Greifswald's old town, combining Gothic, neoclassical, and contemporary structures connected by a glass walkway. Its collections are notable for archaeological findings from the Pomerania region, significant historical artifacts, and an important painting collection including works by Caspar David Friedrich, the Romantic painter born in Greifswald, as well as Frans Hals and Vincent van Gogh. The institution also maintains a strong commitment to cultural understanding and reconciliation with Poland, reflecting the complex multinational history of the Pomeranian region.

The Pomeranian State Museum emerged from post-reunification efforts to preserve and present Pomeranian cultural heritage. The Stiftung Pommersches Landesmuseum was founded in 1996 as a civic law foundation, following German reunification's opening of new possibilities for researching and displaying Pomeranian history. Its founders were the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald, the University of Greifswald, the Stiftung Pommern in Kiel (dissolved December 31, 2000), and the Pommersche Landsmannschaft. The initiative had begun earlier: in 1992, the city of Greifswald and the former Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University jointly applied to the responsible state ministry for the museum's establishment, and in 1993 the city council made historical buildings in the city center available for the project. An architectural competition took place in 1996, won by the office of Gregor Sunder-Plassmann in Kappeln an der Schlei. Construction and renovation of the museum buildings began in 1998 and concluded in 2005. The painting gallery opened in May 2000, and the complete museum was inaugurated on June 3, 2005. Historian Uwe Schröder led the museum's development from 1995, becoming its first director after 2000, and was succeeded in February 2022 by historian Ruth Slenczka. The museum's international scientific advisory board includes Polish, Swedish, and Danish members, acknowledging Pomerania's varied historical affiliations. A satellite branch is under construction at Jagdschloss Granitz near Binz on the island of Rügen, a former hunting lodge of the Rugian princes, to be dedicated to Rugian history.

The museum's total holdings comprise approximately 60,000 objects representing 14,000 years of history. The collection is organized across several thematic areas. The regional history permanent exhibition presents the history of the southern Baltic coast across three floors using roughly 2,500 objects, beginning with geological exhibits including an 8.5-ton glacial erratic from Jarmen, continuing through Stone Age, medieval, and Reformation periods, and extending to the Swedish, Prussian, and Imperial eras, concluding with the 20th century to the present. The painting collection, displayed in the Quistorp building, focuses particularly on works from 1500 to 1900, with emphasis on Romanticism and Impressionism, as well as graphic arts including copper engravings, etchings, and prints. The collections derive from multiple sources: the Szczecin Painting Collection (formerly the Stettin municipal museum), the Pomeranian Foundation in Kiel, and the Greifswald City Museum. The Szczecin collection originated with the Art Association for Pomerania founded in 1834, was housed in a building on Hakenterrasse from 1913 to 1945, and was evacuated to Coburg in 1945 before transfer to Kiel in 1970 and finally to Greifswald in December 1999. The Greifswald City Museum collection began in 1918 with the discovery of three 17th- and 18th-century maps, moved to the Franciscan monastery library in 1928, and was expanded significantly with the 1934 acquisition of Caspar David Friedrich's 'Eldena Ruin in the Giant Mountains.' The Pomerania Foundation in Kiel, established by Schleswig-Holstein in 1966, built up holdings of photographs, maps, handwritten documents, coins, and medals including the Rabl-Virchow and Doering collections.

The painting collection is particularly distinguished by works associated with Caspar David Friedrich, the Greifswald-born Romantic painter, including 'Ruins of Eldena Abbey in the Riesengebirge' and 'Neubrandenburg' (1810). Other significant paintings include Vincent van Gogh's 'A Lane near Arles' (1888). The collection also encompasses works by Frans Hals, Philipp Otto Runge, Max Liebermann, Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Johan Christian Dahl, Emil Nolde, Carl Schuch, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Fritz von Uhde, Albert Weisgerber, Anselm Feuerbach, Andreas Achenbach, Carl Hasenpflug, Carl Gustav Carus, and Joseph Anton Koch, as well as Andrea Vicentino. In the historical collections, the Croy Tapestry (Croÿ-Teppich) stands out as a major piece: a circa 6.5 by 4.2 meter wall tapestry dating from 1554-1556, probably woven by the Brussels tapestry maker Peter Heymans, celebrating the Reformation with depictions of church reformers and German princes from the first half of the 16th century; it likely acquired its name from Duchess Anna of Pomerania of the House of Croÿ, who owned it in the 17th century. Another notable textile is the Esther Tapestry. The incomplete Trinity Altar from the Stralsund parish of St. Jakobi/Heilgeist is among the largest objects on display. The geological collection features the substantial Jarmen glacial erratic. The museum also holds the Lubin map of Pomerania, commissioned by Duke Philipp II in 1618, which was discovered in 1918 and formed the basis of the Greifswald collection.

The museum complex consists of four buildings connected by a glass-roofed hall called the 'Museumsstraße' (Museum Street), located on Mühlenstraße and the perpendicular Rakower Straße in the southeastern old town. The main building is a neoclassical structure built between 1843 and 1845 as an almshouse, replacing the demolished cloister building of the Franciscan monastery, and known as the 'Graues Kloster' (Grey Monastery). After World War II it housed refugees, elderly residents, and resettlers; it was converted in the 1970s and used for social housing until 1999. It now contains the regional history permanent exhibition across three floors. Adjacent to the eastern side of the glass hall are the late Gothic monastery library and the former convent building of the original Franciscan monastery. The monastery library, used by the Greifswald local history museum from 1929, and the convent building, added in the 1950s, now house museum administration, educational departments, and special exhibitions. The painting gallery occupies a building originally constructed from 1793 to 1797 after designs by architect and painter Johann Gottfried Quistorp as a city school; this two-story structure was built using bricks and partly on the foundation of the monastery church demolished in 1789 for cost reasons. The museum ensemble has been described as award-winning architecture combining Gothic, neoclassical, and contemporary elements. The complex also includes the Franciscan monastery garden. The Quistorp building is currently undergoing renovation to reopen around 2025 as the 'Gallery of Romanticism,' with an interim exhibition of selected popular works held in the convent building during construction.

The Pomeranian State Museum is located in Greifswald, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in the southeastern part of the old town, with its entrance area on Mühlenstraße and Rakower Straße. As a public museum, it is owned and operated by the Stiftung Pommersches Landesmuseum, the foundation established in 1996 with support from federal, state, municipal, university, and cultural organizations. The museum maintains active partnerships with Polish, Swedish, and Danish cultural institutions, and its exhibitions incorporate loans from German, Swedish, and Polish partners. Visitors can access the permanent exhibitions and special exhibitions across the connected building complex, with the glass walkway providing direct access to the picture gallery. The museum restaurant 'Natürlich Büttners' and a museum store are available on site. The official website at www.pommersches-landesmuseum.de provides further information. The museum also maintains a presence on Google Arts & Culture, and its collections are documented in publications including Stefan Fassbinder's 'Vom Kloster zum Museum' (2003) and 'Das Pommersche Landesmuseum. Von der Idee bis zur Eröffnung' (2005), as well as Frank Schmitz and Armin Wenzel's 'Pommersches Landesmuseum Greifswald' (2007).