Museums and galleries

The museum scene of Mannheim is dominated by three large institutions: the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums, the Technoseum and the “Kunsthalle”.

The Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums consist of four exhibition houses in which archaeology, world cultures, history of art and culture, photography, history of theatre and music and the ancient world are presented. The diversity of the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums covers an exhibition area of 11,300 square metres with about 1.2 million objects.
International cooperations allow first-class exhibitions that can be seen only in metropolises like Berlin.
At the beginning of 2010 the “State Museum of Technology and Labour“ was renamed “Technoseum“. It focuses on the linking of technology and social history which portrays the industrialisation process from about 1750 up to the present – increasingly by interactive experiments in the past few years.
The main emphasis of the collection of paintings in the “Kunsthalle“ in Mannheim is on German and French impressionism, New Objectivity, expressionism as well as abstract art of German and French Informel. Besides masterpieces of sculpture from the 19th century, the “Kunsthalle“ has an extensive international collection of sculptures from the 20th century. The temporary exhibitions focus on contemporary individual artists.
The presentation of contemporary art is also the main subject of the Mannheim Art Association which could celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2008 and which counts among the oldest art associations in Germany. About 15 changing exhibitions a year offer the opportunity to explore new, still unfamiliar art.