Station: [312] Everyday Life through the Ages

What do we look into when we investigate history?

Event after event, fate after fate appear before our eyes. Battles are fought, lands conquered, landscapes changed and treasures uncovered. But what happened in that „time in between?“ Let’s have a look at that that holds the centre of our world together.

1300 items form everyday life embedded in a slightly curved wall tell us stories of everlasting everyday life throughout the centuries. This extends, stable and consistently, through the highs and lows of political, economic or social events.

Standing opposite the „Everyday Wall,“ are six film stations which tell you about historical political events. How do changes of power and social upheavals affect the destiny of the individual?

We believe that even large political changes had little direct influence on people’s daily activities. Whatever happened: soup was still cooked in a pot over the fire, even if the material the pot was made of and its appearance changed.

Only when political disputes led to violence and war was the everyday life of the man on the street directly affected.

In two large showcases you’ll see the remains of war. 

You can find out in the following supplementary text, what, if anything happened to the Peniger public baths on 14th November 1632 and what this had to do with the spindle whorl and the fragments of a Bellarmine jug here in the showcase.