A Brief History of the Museum

Museum of the City of Worms Since 1930

Rebuilt from the 13th century on, St Andrew’s collegiate church and the former college buildings are part of the city’s rich Romanesque architectural heritage. Today they are the venue of special exhibitions. Located directly at the city wall, St Andrew’s had been existing from the time shortly after the year 1000 and 1802 as a collegiate church.

Secularised at the beginning of the 19th century and used as a municipal fruit store and by the fire brigade, St Andrew’s with its late-Romanesque cloister was reconstructed in 1928 and 1930 and has served as a store for the local Historical Society’s collections that had been endowed to the municipality.

Since its foundation in 1879, the Society had primarily amassed rich archaeological finds that have been the core of the Museum’s collection to this day. The first museum, established by the Society in St Paul’s in 1881, had to be cleared in the 1920s. The new Museum was inaugurated on 1 July 1930, the ‘Day of Liberation’ of Germany left of the Rhine from French occupation, in the attendance of the President of the land of Hesse.

Return after 1945

After the war, the collection was brought back to the Museum, which today displays a fine blend of archaeological finds and all kinds of exhibits from the city’s history. The White Room on the ground floor hosts an impressive model of the city making visible its condition before the massive destruction in 1689. Old films from the 1920s and 1950s give visitors an impression of the recent history.

Collections and Exhibitions

Pre-Roman Era

The permanent exhibition shows archaeological finds from Worms and its vicinity from the Neolithic and the Bronze ages.

Some 7,000 years ago, people settled on the Rhine and practised agriculture. The periods following, among which the eponymous Bronze-age Adlerberg culture, have been documented by precious finds.

Pieces of jewellery and other rare exhibits found in ancient rulers’ tombs date back to the time around 500BC.

Worms in the Roman Period

The Museum boasts a particularly impressive Roman department. In the times of Emperor Augustus, Roman expansion towards the Elbe was stemmed by Germanic tribes in the Battle of the Teutoburg forest AD9.

After the Roman defeat, the Rhine was fortified as a frontier, and a small garrison was established in what is today Worms. Coming chiefly from Gaul, Romanised Celts settled in today’s Rheinhessen.

From around AD80, the small town Borbetomagus evolved into the capital of the citivas Vangionum. A forum (at the foot of the Cathedral) and temples were built and a road was paved. Today’s Kämmererstraße follows the former Roman road.

The Museum shows dedicatory inscriptions, altars and tombstones. Also on display is ancient pottery made for regional consumption, jugs found in Worms ornamented with faces, as well as terra sigillata and crockery.

Excavations after 1881 brought precious glasses and large amounts of other finds to light and to the Museum.

The Museum prides itself to hold one of the largest collections of Roman glasses in Germany.

Migration of Peoples

The wealth of the Roman period vanished with the unrest of the migration of the peoples. Few objects were discovered in the time after AD400. Neck rings and combs give evidence of Germanic immigrants from the late 3rd and the early 4th centuries, but only 5th-century early Christian tombstones with Latin inscriptions and Germanic names substantiate a new population.

It seems that Worms and its vicinity were only sparsely populated around AD500, when Franconians systematically settled in the area. The existence of a Burgundian empire in Worms in the 5th century is probably legendary.

Franconian women wore wonderful jewellery, heavy golden disc fibulae and colourful necklaces. Glass goblets were produced again and found their way into the Museum as burial objects.

From the Middle Ages to the Modern Time

A more detailed description of the city’s history from the early Middle Ages on the second floor is still in the process of planning. A new permanent exhibition is planned here.

The Luther Room pays tribute to Reformer Martin Luther, who appeared before Emperor Charles V in 1521 on the famous Diet of Worms.

In the glass gallery, primarily late mediaeval glasses from finds in Worms are displayed.

The industrialisation and, above all the leather industry that had become important in 19th-century Worms, is also dealt with here.

City of Worms Art Gallery

Established at the beginning of the 20th century, the City of Worms Art Gallery is also part of the Museum, presenting selections of local art (mainly paintings and graphics) in temporary exhibitions.

Pedagogical Programmes

On a voluntary basis, the Museum offers pedagogical programmes and temporary special exhibitions.