Special Exhibitions

From September 16 – 18 2019 there was a three-day conference in the Conference Center "DAS WORMSER" for interested members of the public and for specialists in the field. Taking the reception of the events in Worms as a starting point, this conference explored the concept of “freedom of conscience” that became popular following Luther’s summons to appear at the Diet of Worms, examining this concept from different perspectives and considering the ways it has been seen in various periods up to the present.
The conference discussed and developed in depth topics and aspects of the exhibition planned for 2021 in Worms: "Here I stand. Conscience and Protest – 1521 to 2021".

One of the most influential creative artists in Worms was a late medieval image baker. He had specialized in the production of clay figurines, mainly saints and toy figures and made of pipeclay. A selection of these figurines and other sculptures from that time can be admired in the museum from July 8th 2017.

Influential “image bakery” in Worms

Around the middle of the 15th century, Worms was the home of an influential image bakery. The so-called “image bakers” were sculptors and potters who had specialized in the crafting of molded and usually small-scale clay figures and their prototypes (for producing molds). Some of these craftsmen were primarily known as professional image bakers, whereas others were at the same time artists because they created the prototypes of their figures, their “modelli”, themselves. This second group included the principal master image baker in Worms, one of the most influential artists of his profession. His originals and also copies of his figurines have been found in a number of places in Europe.

Most of these small works of art are representations of Jesus as a child or of saints, but there was also a demand for little fashion dolls and horseriders. The figurines were molded in so-called pipeclay. This is a fine, white-firing type of clay that contains kaolinite. The workshop in Worms occasionally produced glazed items, especially whistles in the shape of a horse. In those days devotional figurines were crafted just as elaborately as other sacred works of art. They were often used as toys by children but also by adults.

The special exhibition “Die Wormser Bilderbäckerei” (“The Image Bakery in Worms”) is open to all visitors to the permanent exhibition in the Museum Andreasstift.