History of the Linden-Museum Stuttgart
Among Germany’s ethnological institutions, the Linden-Museum has one of the richest traditions. It evolved in the late nineteenth century from the Verein für Handelsgeographie (Association for trade geography), which pursued its commercial interests all over the world, but at an early stage also started to collect and maintain objects of artistic and cultural significance. The association still exists as the Gesellschaft für Erd- und Völkerkunde (Society for geography and ethnology) with a status similar to that of ‘Friends of the Linden-Museum’.The Linden-Museum is named after Karl Graf von Linden (1838-1910), who was the president of the Württembergischer Verein für Handelsgeographie. He cultivated contacts in all parts of the world to whom he appealed for objects for his ethnological collection. He provided the basis for the outstanding and unique collection of the Museum and invited famous explorers like Sven Hedin and Roald Amundsen to Stuttgart.
The striking museum building was erected in 1911, when the Verein für Handelsgeographie decided that its collection, which by that time had gained worldwide renown, should become accessible to the public as a privately owned museum.
In the Second World War the Linden-Museum was totally destroyed by British bombs. Invaluable treasures went up in flames, but fortunately some parts were spared because they had been moved to safe storage places. After the rebuilding in the Fifties under its director Theodor Wanner, the museum passed into the possession of the municipality. In 1973, Stuttgart together with the federal state of Baden-Württemberg became joint owners. From 1979 to 1985, the Museum was completely refurbished under its director Friedrich Kussmaul.
Today the Linden-Museum is one of the foremost ethnological museums in the world.