Heinrich Thalmeyer's Workshop @museum.de

Heinrich Thalmayer was a metal roofer and tinsmith of the old school. He ran an old-established workshop in Munich, near the English Garden. A red watering can hung above the entrance as a company nameplate. And in the workshop, the framed, artistically designed master craftsman's certificate of his predecessor, Johann Sedlmeier, proclaimed genuine craftsman's pride. Incidentally, the certificate dates back to 1912 – donkey's years ago!

At some point, old age caught up with Heinrich Thalmayer, too. He was well over 80, but he refused to retire. He still spent every day grafting in the workshop or on the rooftops of Munich. But with the opening of the Karlstadt Museum, a solution was finally in sight. Heinrich Thalmayer’s wife called Heinrich Lummel. Or rather: she called for help. If Lummel couldn't persuade her husband to give up his workshop and donate it to the museum, she said, she wasn't too old to divorce him!

Apparently, Heinrich Lummel managed to save the marriage... and to secure one of the museum's highlights. Thalmayer's workshop was dismantled in Munich and reassembled here in the museum, accurate in every detail and almost complete. It even includes the studio window!

Feel free to take a look around! A special treat is the bending brake, which is set up vertically, a very uncommon arrangement. If you were working at it, that would certainly take some getting used to. But if you think of how high rents are in Munich near the English Garden, it makes perfect sense, because it saves space!